E  LITTLE  HOUSE 
IN  THE  WOODS 


UC-NRLF 


ESM 


®  CLARAS 
WHITEHILL 
®  HUNT  ® 


IDI 


3Soofc£f  fjp  Clara  W\)ittl)ill  punt 

PUBLISHED    BY 

HOUGHTON  MIFFLIN  COMPANY 


THE  LITTLE  HOUSE  IN  THE  WOODS.  Illus- 
trated in  color. 

ABOUT  HARRIET.  Illustrated  in  color  by  MAGINHL 
WRIGHT  ENRIGHT. 

WHAT   SHALL  WE    READ   TO  THE    CHILDREN? 


THE  LITTLE  HOUSE 
IN  THE  WOODS 


A :  :•'•  :*::*'/*r:    :  .*.  •*•. 


MARGARET  NOW  BEGAN  TO  CLIMB  THE  LADDER 


The  Little  House 
in  the  Woods 


CLARA  WHITEHILL  HUNT 

With  Illustrations 


BOSTON  AND  NEW  YORK 
HOUGHTON  MIFFLIN  COMPANY 

The  Riverside  Press  Cambridge 


COPYRIGHT,  1918,  BY  CLARA  WHITEHILL  HUNT 
ALL  RIGHTS  RESERVED 

Published  September  iqi8 


CONTENTS 

I.  How  DOROTHY'S  WISH  "CAME  TRUE"  i 

II.  CEDAR  HILL  FARM 23 

III.  THE  TREE  HOUSE 47 

IV.  THE  SAIL  IN  "NOKOMIS"  .                     .  75 
V.  THE  WALK  TO  THE  VILLAGE     ...  99 

VI.  THE  PICNIC 121 

VII:  THE  CHRISTMAS  TREE  WOODS        .       .141 
VIII.  FOGGY  DAYS 159 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

MARGARET  NOW  BEGAN  TO  CLIMB  THE  LADDER 

Frontispiece 

"  JUST  SEE  THE  BABY  DUCKLINGS  "    .      .       .26 

SHE  LOOKED  DOWN  THROUGH  THE  TREES  TO 
THE  SPARKLING  WATER 52 

SHE  DID  NOT  CARE  FOR  ANYTHING  BUT  WAD- 
ING TO-DAY 72 

SKIMMING  MERRILY  OVER  THE  WAVES  .  .  80 
"  WlLL  THE  CHIPMUNK  LET  ME  FEED  HIM?"  .  IO6 
BILLY  WANTED  TO  PICK  TOO  .  .  .  .134 

HELPED    MOTHER    FIND    THINGS    FOR    HER 

BASKET 146 

From  drawings  by  Mabel  B.  Hill 


Chapter  I 


HOW  DOROTHY'S  WISH  "CAME  TRUE" 


THE  LITTLE  HOUSE 
IN  THE  WOODS 

CHAPTER  I 

HOW  DOROTHY'S  WISH  "CAME  TRUE" 

WHEN  Dorothy  Rogers  was  five 
years  old  she  received  a  great 
many  nice  presents  on  her  birthday.  The 
present  she  liked  best  of  all  was  a  book 
of  fairy  tales.  Mother  read  aloud  the 
stories  again  and  again.  Dorothy  partic- 
ularly liked  the  tales  in  which  a  fairy  ap- 
peared to  the  hero  and  offered  him  three 
wishes.  So  many  times  the  hero  wasted 
the  fairy's  gift,  asking  for  foolish  things 
because  he  spoke  quickly  and  thought- 
lessly, that  Dorothy  decided  to  have  her 
mind  all  made  up  beforehand  about  what 
to  ask  for,  in  case  a  fairy  ever  appeared 

3 


* 'LITTLE'  HOUSE  IN  THE  WOODS 

to  her  and  told  her  she  might  have  three 
wishes. 

First,  Dorothy  thought,  she  would  ask 
for  a  baby  sister. 

Second,  she  thought,  she  would  ask  for 
a  baby  brother. 

And  third,  she  would  ask  to  live,  with 
her  father  and  mother  and  brother  and 
sister,  in  a  little  house  in  the  woods  like 
Snow  White's. 

Now,  although  the  fairy  did  not  appear 
to  Dorothy  and  the  baby  brother  and 
sister  did  not  come,  the  third  wish  came 
true  only  a  few  weeks  after  Dorothy's  fifth 
birthday.  She  went  to  live  in  a  little  house 
in  the  woods !  It  was  n't  precisely  like 
the  little  house  where  Snow  White  and 
the  dwarfs  lived.  It  was  even  nicer,  Dor- 
othy thought,  because  her  little  house  in 
the  woods  was  close  by  the  waters  of  the 
blue,  blue  sea. 

Dorothy  and  her  father  and  mother 
4 


HOW  DOROTHY'S  WISH  CAME  TRUE 

lived  all  summer  long  in  their  dear  little 
house,  and  then  they  went  back  to  the  city. 
They  lived  in  the  big,  noisy  city  all  the 
autumn  and  all  the  winter  and  all  the  spring, 
but  when  the  summer  came  again  and 
Dorothy  was  six  years  old,  Dorothy  and 
her  father  and  mother  again  went  to  live 
in  their  little  house  in  the  woods. 

This  story  will  tell  you  about  Dorothy's 
second  summer  in  the  little  house  under 
the  trees  by  the  shores  of  the  blue,  blue 
waters. 

First,  there  was  a  long  journey  to  take 
from  the  great  city.  Dorothy  had  to  ride 
in  so  many  different  trolley-cars  and  trains 
and  boats  that  she  got  tired  trying  to  count 
them  all ;  but  at  last  the  long  journey  was 
over,  and  Uncle  Ned  was  swinging  Doro- 
thy out  of  the  last  boat  on  to  the  little  pier 
at  the  foot  of  the  rocks  in  front  of  the  little 
house  in  the  woods.  And  there  on  the  pier 
were  Aunt  Jessie  and  Baby  Billy  and 

5 


THE  LITTLE  HOUSE  IN  THE  WOODS 

Aunt  Elizabeth  and  Mrs.  Sayre ;  and  rac- 
ing across  the  beach  to  welcome  Dorothy 
came  Frances  and  Margaret  Fairfield  and 
Margaret  Sayre.  In  a  minute  there  were 
hugs  and  kisses  and  handshakes  and 
every  one  talking  at  once,  because  every 
one  was  happy  to  think  of  the  good  times 
they  were  all  going  to  have  together,  all 
summer  long. 

Soon  Dorothy  and  the  little  girls  and 
the  aunties  were  climbing  the  funny  tee- 
tery  runway  from  the  float  to  the  top  of 
the  rocks,  while  father  and  Uncle  James 
and  Uncle  Ned  and  the  boys  followed 
carrying  the  trunks  and  the  suitcases  up  to 
the  piazza  of  the  little  house. 

Dorothy  ran  eagerly  in  at  the  door  to 
see  if  things  looked  as  she  remembered 
them  from  last  summer.  Yes,  there  was 
the  great  fireplace  with  the  chimney  made 
of  big  "  cobblestones  "  reaching  up  to  the 
ceiling  of  the  living-room.  There  were  the 

6 


HOW  DOROTHY'S  WISH  CAME  TRUE 

chairs  and  the  table  and  the  desk  and  the 
shelves  for  books  which  Father  had  made 
from  trees  that  had  grown  in  their  very  own 
woods.  The  room  was  gay  with  flowers 
arranged  by  the  aunties  to  make  the  little 
house  seem  to  say,  "  Glad  to  see  you  back 
again!" 

Dorothy  next  ran  into  her  own  pretty 
room,  the  little  girls  crowding  in  after  her. 
In  one  corner  were  three  narrow  shelves 
on  which  Dorothy  had  kept  her  collection. 
She  remembered  that  she  had  left  on  these 
shelves  last  summer  a  number  of  smooth 
white  pebbles  shaped  like  tiny  eggs,  a 
great  many  different  kinds  of  shells,  two 
starfishes,  a  big  sea-urchin,  a  row  of  pine 
cones  of  all  sizes  from  tiny  ones  to  big 
ones,  and  a  necklace  made  of  pretty  seeds. 
But  now  the  collection  was  all  in  disorder. 
Some  of  the  things  were  on  the  floor. 
Many  of  the  shells  were  broken;  and 
of  the  necklace  nothing  was  left  but  the 

7 


THE  LITTLE  HOUSE  IN  THE  WOODS 

thread  on  which  Dorothy  had  strung  the 
seeds. 

As  Dorothy  gazed  in  surprise  at  her 
ruined  treasures,  Frances  exclaimed  :  — 

"  Oh,  the  field-mice  have  eaten  your 
necklace.  They  got  into  my  room  too,  and 
messed  things  up." 

"  Or  maybe  it  was  a  chipmunk/'  said 
Margaret  Fairfield.  "  I  saw  one  scamp- 
ering across  our  attic  floor  the  other 
day." 

"  Never  mind,"  said  Margaret  Sayre. 
"  You  can  find  lots  of  other  things  just  as 
good.  Oh,  Dorothy,  ask  your  mother  if 
you  can't  go  over  to  your  Uncle  James's 
bungalow.  It's  new  since  last  year,  you 
know,  and  your  Aunt  Elizabeth  has  some 
lovely  kittens." 

So  Dorothy  ran  to  ask  her  mother,  who 
said:  — 

1 '  Wait  a  minute,  dear.  Where  is  that 
brown  suitcase?  You  must  put  on  your 

8 


HOW  DOROTHY'S  WISH  CAME  TRUE 

sneakers  before  you  run  around  on  these 
slippery  rocks." 

The  brown  suitcase  was  found  with  the 
sneakers  inside  it;  and  Dorothy  took  off 
her  city  shoes  and  put  on  the  rubber-soled 
ones.  Now  she  could  climb  the  rocks  "  like 
a  fly  on  the  side  of  the  house,"  as  she  said, 
or  run  along  the  mossy  paths  in  the  woods 
and  up  the  piney  hillsides  without  fear  of 
slipping. 

The  little  girls  ran  out  of  the  door, 
down  the  piazza  steps,  and  along  the 
narrow  path  that  led  to  Uncle  James's 
bungalow.  They  were  so  eager  to  see  the 
new  house  and  the  kittens  that  they  did 
not  stop  to  notice  the  bright  red  bunch- 
berries  that  decked  the  mossy  carpet 
under  the  baby  birch  trees.  They  did 
not  even  wait  to  pick  and  eat  the  blue- 
berries that  looked  as  blue  as  the  sky 
and  tasted  as  sweet  as  sunshine  could 
make  them. 

9 


THE  LITTLE  HOUSE  IN  THE  WOODS 

In  a  minute  they  came  to  a  little  bridge 
which  Dorothy  had  never  seen. 

' '  Look,  Dorothy, ' '  said  Frances.  ' '  Uncle 
James  lives  on  an  island  —  at  least,  it's 
an  island  at  high  tide.  So  he  had  to  build 
a  bridge  to  the  mainland  or  else  they  'd 
have  had  to  swim  or  come  across  in  a 
boat.  Only  at  low  tide  you  can  wade 
across." 

The  little  girls  stopped  in  the  middle 
of  the  bridge  and  looked  down  into  the 
water  below  for  a  minute.  Then  they  ran 
across  the  bridge  on  to  the  island. 

Here  was  the  new  bungalow,  all  a 
lovely  mossy  green  color,  roof  and  sides 
and  every  part  of  it ;  and  around  the 
bungalow  was  a  little  grove  of  trees  and 
around  the  grove  were  the  blue  waters 
of  Penobscot  Bay.  It  was  just  as  Frances 
said.  Uncle  James  did  not  need  to  build 
a  fence  or  a  wall  around  his  land.  The 
water  made  a  sort  of  wall.  But,  then, 

10 


HOW  DOROTHY'S  WISH  CAME  TRUE 

people  do  not  need  walls  to  keep  out  bad 
people  in  this  pleasant  land  where  Doro- 
thy and  her  friends  live  in  summer.  The 
bad  people  do  not  seem  to  care  to  come 
to  that  country. 

Uncle  James  and  Aunt  Elizabeth  and 
Cousin  Lincoln  had  not  yet  come  back 
to  their  little  house,  but  the  kittens  were 
there,  chasing  one  another  across  the 
broad  piazza  floor,  running  up  and  down 
the  piazza  posts  "and  even  scrambling  up 
on  the  screen  door.  They  were  beautiful 
kittens,  with  long,  thick  fur  and  big,  fluffy 
tails,  and  they  were  so  playful  and  yet  so 
tame  that  they  loved  to  be  petted  almost 
as  much  as  they  liked  to  play. 

Dorothy  soon  had  the  gray  kitty  in  her 
arms,  and  the  little  fellow  snuggled  into 
her  neck  and  purred  loudly  as  if  to  say 
he  was  glad  of  another  friend  to  love 
him. 

"Oh,  Frances!"  said  Dorothy.  "Do 
ii 


THE  LITTLE  HOUSE  IN  THE  WOODS 

you  suppose  I  could  have  a  kitty  too? 
Were  there  any  left  where  Aunt  'Liz'beth 
got  these?" 

"  I  don't  think  so,"  said  Frances.  "  But 
Aunt  Elizabeth  will  let  you  play  with 
these  all  you  like." 

The  kitty  was  so  lovely  that  Dorothy 
would  have  been  glad  to  stay  on  Uncle 
James's  piazza  and  play  with  him  all  the 
morning.  But  the  little  girls  were  so  eager 
to  show  everything  to  Dorothy  as  quickly 
as  possible  that  with  one  last  hug  and  kiss 
she  put  Muffet  down,  and  off  they  ran 
once  more. 

Back  across  the  bridge  and  up  the  path 
they  ran,  past  Dorothy's  bungalow  where 
Father  and  Mother  by  this  time  were  un- 
packing trunks  and  putting  the  house  in 
order. 

Now  the  children  were  going  to  the 
bungalow  where  Frances  and  Margaret 
Fairfield  lived  with  Uncle  Ned  and  Aunt 

12 


HOW  DOROTHY'S  WISH  CAME  TRUE 

Jessie  and  Baby  Billy  and  their  big  brother 
Arthur. 

This  time  the  way  was  not  along  a 
path  in  the  woods.  First,  the  little  girls 
scrambled  down  steep  rocks  to  a  pebbly 
beach.  This  was  the  place  where  the  chil- 
dren bathed  or  waded  when  it  was  not 
too  cold.  At  low  tide  the  curving  beach 
was  very  wide,  but  when  the  tide  came 
in,  the  water  sometimes  covered  the  peb- 
bly floor  close  up  to  the  roots  of  the  trees 
that  bordered  the  shore. 

It  was  low  tide  now,  and  the  little 
girls'  feet  made  a  rattling  sound  as  they 
crunched  over  the  pebbles  toward  Uncle 
Ned's  bungalow.  On  days  when  wind 
and  waves  were  still,  Uncle  Ned  and 
Aunt  Jessie  could  always  tell  when  some 
one  was  coming  to  call  on  them  by  the 
" scrunch"  of  the  little  stones  under  the 
visitor's  feet. 

Dorothy  particularly  loved  Uncle  Ned's 
13 


THE  LITTLE  HOUSE  IN  THE  WOODS 

house.  Its  dark  red  roof  and  walls  and 
white-framed  windows,  peeping  out  from 
among  the  " Christmas  trees"  that  grew 
close  about  it,  always  gave  her  a  pleasant 
feeling  of  the  good  times  the  "  bungaloaf- 
ers"  had  within  the  red  house  and  on  its 
rocks  and  its  beach. 

"  Shall  we  take  Dorothy  first  up  to  our 
room?"  asked  Margaret  Fairfield. 

"Oh,  no,"  said  Frances.  " Let's  show 
her  the  Gloucester  hammock.  She  has  n't 
seen  that,  nor  our  doll's  hammock  either." 

So  they  trooped  up  the  steps  of  the 
piazza  that  ran  across  the  front  of  the 
house  —  such  a  huge  piazza,  long  enough 
and  broad  enough  for  the  big  tea-parties 
that  Aunt  Jessie  was  likely  to  have  any 
afternoon,  all  summer  long. 

Across  one  end  of  the  piazza  hung  a 
fine  big  Gloucester  hammock.  All  four 
little  girls  sat  in  it  at  once  and  there  was 
room  to  spare.  They  were  a  little  out  of 

14 


HOW  DOROTHY'S  WISH  CAME  TRUE 

breath  from  so  much  hurrying,  so  they 
sat  still  awhile,  chatting  about  what  they 
should  do  next. 

Near  the  big  hammock  hung  a  tiny 
one  exactly  like  it  in  which  Margaret's 
doll  lay  sleeping.  Beyond  the  doll's  ham- 
mock stood  a  pretty  tea-table  made  by 
Uncle  Ned,  and  a  lovely  rustic  seat,  too, 
which  he  had  made.  Beautiful  fern  bas- 
kets hung  from  the  piazza  posts.  In  front 
of  the  house  were  the  great  Maine  rocks 
with  fir  trees  seeming  to  grow  out  of  them; 
and  beyond  the  rocks  were  the  wide  blue 
waters  dotted  with  green  islands.  White 
sailboats  skimmed  over  the  blue  water, 
and  far,  far  above  lovely  seagulls,  the  sun 
gleaming  on  their  white  breasts,  sailed 
across  the  blue,  blue  sky. 

"  Now  let 's  show  Dorothy  our  room," 
said  Margaret,  after  they  had  swung  in 
the  hammock  for  a  few  minutes. 

"All  right,"  said  Frances. 
15 


THE  LITTLE  HOUSE  IN  THE  WOODS 

So  they  jumped  out  of  the  hammock 
and  in  at  the  green  front  door.  Across 
the  big  living-room  they  were  going  to 
the  stairs  when  Frances  exclaimed :  — 

"  I  smell  something  good !  "  And  with 
that  she  darted  into  the  kitchen,  the  other 
little  girls  following  at  her  heels. 

"Oh,  Mother,  may  we  have  some 
cookies?"  asked  Frances. 

"  Yes,  of  course,"  said  Aunt  Jessie, 
laughing.  "  You  would  smell  cookies 
'way  over  to  Bock's  Harbor,  wouldn't 
you,  you  always-hungry  kiddies  ?  " 

"  Your  cookies  we  would,  Mrs.  Fair- 
field,"  said  Margaret  Sayre.  "They  are 
the  best  any  one  ever  made." 

The  little  girls  stood  about  the  big 
sunny  room  munching  the  delicious 
cookies,  while  Dorothy's  bright  eyes 
looked  eagerly  around  getting  acquainted 
again  with  Aunt  Jessie's  kitchen. 

"See,  Dorothy,"  said  Margaret  Fair- 
16 


HOW  DOROTHY'S  WISH  CAME  TRUE 

field.  "  We  have  running  water  this  year, 
just  as  we  do  in  the  city.  Mr.  Sumner 
and  Mr.  Gifford  laid  pipes  from  the  spring 
up  on  the  hill  down  to  the  bungalows, 
and  now  we  just  turn  the  faucet  and  get 
our  water  as  easy  as  anything." 

Dorothy  knew  it  was  much  easier  for 
Aunt  Jessie  in  her  housekeeping  to  get 
water  from  a  faucet,  but  privately  she  was 
a  little  sorry  to  have  anything  in  Maine 
"just  like  the  city."  She  had  always  been 
much  interested  in  the  rain-barrels  out  on 
the  kitchen  porch.  On  rainy  days  when 
the  water  ran  down  the  steep  roof  of  the 
bungalow,  it  was  made  to  flow  into  a  pipe 
which  emptied  the  water  into  large  barrels 
standing  near  the  kitchen  door.  Dorothy 
had  enjoyed  watching  the  water  gush  from 
the  spout  of  the  pipe,  and  she  had  liked 
to  see  Frances  fill  her  pitcher  with  the 
long-handled  tin  dipper  that  hung  near 
the  barrels.  This  rainwater  was  used  for 


THE  LITTLE  HOUSE  IN  THE  WOODS 

washing  faces  and  washing  clothes,  not 
for  drinking  or  cooking.  The  drinking- 
water  last  summer  had  been  brought  in 
pails  from  the  spring  on  the  hill. 

After  they  had  eaten  their  cookies  the 
little  girls  started  for  the  stairs. 

11  Is  Billy  upstairs,  Aunt  Jessie  ?  "  asked 
Dorothy. 

"  No,  dear,  he  is  out  with  his  daddy. 
I  should  n't  wonder  if  they  are  in  the 
vegetable  garden  picking  string  beans  for 
supper." 

Clattering  up  the  bare  stairs  that  smelled 
so  good  and  woodsy,  the  little  girls  flocked 
into  Frances's  and  Margaret's  room.  It 
was  a  big,  pretty  room,  with  clean,  bare 
wood  walls  on  which  Frances  and  Mar- 
garet had  tacked  their  favorite  pictures. 
In  one  corner  of  the  room  was  Frances's 
little  white  bed  and  in  the  opposite  cor- 
ner was  Margaret's.  The  little  girls  had 
a  dressing-table  made  of  a  broad  shelf 

18 


HOW  DOROTHY'S  WISH  CAME  TRUE 

which  Uncle  Ned  had  fastened  to  the 
wall,  and  Aunt  Jessie  had  covered  with 
flowered  chintz.  Uncle  Ned  had  made 
the  washstand,  too,  another  shelf  covered 
with  white  oilcloth.  And  the  chairs  had 
not  come  from  a  city  shop  either.  They 
came  from  the  woods  back  of  the  bunga- 
low and  Uncle  Ned's  tools  had  built 
them. 

The  little  girls  spent  a  very  happy  half- 
hour  looking  at  Frances's  and  Margaret's 
treasures. 

Then  Uncle  Ned's  voice  was  heard 
calling  up  the  stairs :  — 

"  Dorothy,  your  mother  asked  me  to 
tell  you  to  come  home  now.  It  is  almost 
dinner-time,  and  I  suspect  all  you  kiddies 
need  some  wrashing-up." 

"All  right,  Uncle  Ned,  I'm  coming," 
called  Dorothy. 

Then  Margaret  Sayre  jumped  up,  say- 
ing:— 

19 


THE  LITTLE  HOUSE  IN  THE  WOODS 

"I  guess  my  mother  will  be  wanting 
me,  too." 

So  Dorothy  and  Margaret  went  down 
the  stairs  and  out  through  the  kitchen, 
down  the  steps  of  the  back  porch  and 
across  the  pebbly  beach.  They  climbed 
the  rocks  again  near  Dorothy's  house, 
but  here  Margaret  said  good-bye  and 
went  on  up  through  the  woods  toward 
Mrs.  Sumner's. 

Dorothy  ran  in  at  the  door  of  her  little 
house,  and  there  was  Mother  waiting  to 
help  her  small  daughter  get  washed  and 
brushed  and  into  a  fresh  middy. 

Just  as  the  last  button  was  fastened, 
they  heard  something  that  sounded  like 
a  horn  blowing  three  long  blasts  and 
then  three  short  ones. 

"Ah,  there  's  the  old  conch  shell!  "  said 
Mother.  "And  I  think  Mr.  Sumner  is 
making  it  call,  '  Oh?  all  ye  hungry  Bunga- 
loafers,  dinner  is  almost  ready.  So  come 

20 


HOW  DOROTHY'S  WISH  CAME  TRUE 

in  from  your  bathing  and  in  from  your 
boats,  and  come  up  to  Cedar  Hill  Farm 
to  try  our  fresh  fish  ! ' 

Dorothy  laughed  gayly  at  Mother's 
idea. 

"  But  no  one  is  in  bathing  to-day, 
Mother,"  she  said. 

"  Not  to-day,"  said  Mother.  "But  that 
is  what  the  conch  usually  has  to  say. 
You  watch  and  see  after  this." 

Then  Father  appeared,  fresh  from  his 
" washing-up,"  and  Dorothy  ran  and 
hugged  him,  exclaiming :  — 

"Oh,  now  we  don't  look  like  city  peo- 
ple any  longer!  Daddy  has  on  a  flannel 
shirt  and  khaki  trousers,  and  Mother  and 
I  have  middy  suits,  and  we  all  have  on 
sneakers.  And  we  don't  care  a  bit  how 
dirty  we  get,  do  we,  Mother,  dear?" 

"Not  a  bit,"  laughed  Mother,  "pro- 
vided we  get  a  swim  every  morning  and 
clean  faces  and  hands  for  the  table." 

21 


THE  LITTLE  HOUSE  IN  THE  WOODS 

"  And  when  we  go  on  picnics  we  shan't 
even  have  to  get  clean  for  meals!  "  said 
Dorothy. 

"Oh,  what  joy!"  exclaimed  Daddy. 
"  You  and  I  will  go  as  dirty  as  Indians, 
shan't  we,  Puss  ?  Mother  is  sure  to  look 
clean  enough  to  save  the  reputation  of 
the  family." 

And  so,  joking  and  laughing,  Father 
and  Mother  and  Dorothy  left  the  little 
house,  without  even  locking  the  door, 
and  started  up  the  road  through  the  woods 
toward  dinner. 


Chapter  II 


CEDAR  HILL  FARM 


CHAPTER  II 

CEDAR  HILL  FARM 

HOW  they  enjoyed  the  short  walk 
through  the  woods!  The  ground 
under  their  feet  was  soft  and  cool  and 
springy,  not  a  bit  like  hard,  hot  city  pave- 
ments. To  be  sure  the  road  was  uneven 
and  "hummocky,"  and  one  needed  to  be 
careful  not  to  catch  one's  feet  in  roots  and 
low  bushes  or  stumble  over  rocks  here  and 
there.  But  the  loveliness  overhead,  where 
bits  of  blue  sky  showed  between  dancing 
green  leaves,  and  the  loveliness  all  about, 
of  flowers  and  ferns  and  sweet  smells  and 
soft  breezes  —  ah,  it  made  Dorothy  wish 
never  to  have  to  live  in  the  city  again. 

Beyond  the  woods  they  passed  a  sunny 
field  of  tall  grass  that  rippled  in  waves  of 
green  as  gentle  breezes  swept  over  it. 

"  Just  see  how  big  and  red  the  clover 
25 


THE  LITTLE  HOUSE  IN  THE  WOODS 

is ! "  said  Mother,  noticing  the  lovely  blos- 
soms on  the  edge  of  the  field. 

11  Oh,  Mother,  may  I  pick  some? "  asked 
Dorothy. 

"  When  we  come  back  you  may,"  said 
Mother.  "  We  must  gather  flowers  every 
day  to  fill  our  bowls  and  baskets." 

Now  they  crossed  the  main  road  which 
ran  by  Mr.  Sumner's  and  on  up  to  the 
village.  And  beside  the  road,  at  the  foot 
of  the  slope  which  was  Mr.  Sumner's 
front  yard,  lay  a  tiny  pond. 

"  Oh,  Mother  I  Mother! "  shrieked  Dor- 
othy. "  Just  see  the  baby  ducklings.  Ohl 
Oh !  Are  n't  they  beautiful?" 

For  there  on  the  pond  Dorothy  had 
spied  a  whole  family  of  little  brown,  fluffy, 
yellow-billed  creatures  that  were  swim- 
ming as  fast  as  they  couKl,  away  from 
these  giant  people,  to  get  close  under  the 
care  of  their  mother  duck. 

"  So  I  There  's  your  friend  Mrs.  Jemima 
26 


"JUST  SEE  THE  BABY  DUCKLINGS 


CEDAR  HILL  FARM 

Puddleduck  come  to  live  at  Mr.  Sumner's, 
Dorothy,"  said  Mother. 

"  And  there  's  Mr.  Jeremy  Fisher  to 
keep  her  company,"  Father  added.  "  See 
the  old  green  bullfrog  sitting  on  the  log, 
swelling  out  his  yellow  shirt-front?" 

Dorothy  was  too  delighted  to  speak. 
She  forgot  all  about  being  hungry  and 
wanted  to  stay  and  watch  the  ducklings. 
But  Daddy  told  her  that  the  pond  and  its 
people  would  stay  there  all  summer,  and 
she  would  have  plenty  of  time  to  make 
their  acquaintance. 

So  Dorothy  went  on  across  the  narrow 
plank  which  made  a  little  bridge  over  the 
the  brook  that  flowed  into  the  pond.  They 
climbed  the  grassy  path  up  the  little  hill 
and  in  a  minute  more  they  were  on  Mr. 
Sumner's  piazza. 

Then  such  a  welcome  as  Father  and 
Mother  and  Dorothy  received  from  all  the 
people  who  lived  during  the  summer  with 

27 


THE  LITTLE  HOUSE  IN  THE  WOODS 

the  Sumners  of  Cedar  Hill  Farm.  Besides 
Mrs.  Sayre  and  Margaret,  whom  Doro- 
thy had  already  seen,  there  were  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Sumner,  Mr.  Sayre  and  Mr.  Bur- 
chard,  Miss  Hart  and  Miss  Grace  Hart, 
tall  Ruth  Hopper,  fat  little  David,  and  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Hopper.  Then  up  the  path  came 
Uncle  Ned  and  Uncle  James  and  their 
families,  who,  like  Dorothy's  family,  ate 
dinner  every  noon  at  Mrs.  Sumner's.  And 
all  the  other  fathers  began  to  joke  Doro- 
thy's father  because  his  shirt  and  trousers 
were  so  clean  and  had  n't  any  patches  or 
holes  in  them,  and  they  pretended  they 
were  going  to  send  him  back  to  the  city 
because  he  looked  too  stylish.  And  the 
mothers  said :  — 

11  Don't  they  behave  like  a  lot  of  school- 
boys just  let  loose  from  school?" 
Then  Arthur  and  Lincoln  said :  — 
"No,  they  aren't  half  so  sensible  as 
school-boys  ! " 

28 


CEDAR  HILL  FARM 

So  everybody  laughed,  and  Dorothy 
thought  it  was  the  best  fun  in  the  world 
to  be  in  the  midst  of  such  a  jolly  big  fam- 
ily, because  at  home  she  was  used  to 
such  a  tiny  family,  only  herself  and  her 
father  and  mother. 

Next  everybody  went  into  the  dining- 
room,  and  while  the  grown  people  talked 
and  laughed  as  they  ate,  the  children  at- 
tended busily  to  filling  their  " tummies" 
that  they  might  the  sooner  get  out  to 
play. 

After  dessert  was  eaten  the  mothers 
excused  the  children,  who  went  quietly 
out  of  the  dining-room.  As  soon  as  they 
reached  the  piazza,  however,  there  was  no 
more  quiet.  All  began  talking  at  once. 

"  Let's  take  Dorothy  up  to  the  spring 
to  see  the  new  reservoir,"  said  Frances. 

"Oh,  no!  Let's  go  down  to  the  barn. 
That 's  new,  too,  since  last  summer,"  said 
Margaret  Sayre. 

29 


THE  LITTLE  HOUSE  IN  THE  WOODS 

"  But  down  in  our  woods  the  tree- 
house  that  Daddy  made  us  is  best  of  all," 
said  Margaret  Fairfield. 

"  Now  I  know  Dorothy  would  rather 
see  our  camp  than  anything  else.  Would 
n't  you?"  said  big  Arthur,  looking  down 
teasingly  at  little  Dorothy. 

Dorothy  laughed  excitedly.  It  was  be- 
wildering to  have  a  choice  of  so  many 
delightful  things  to  do. 

"I'll  tell  you,"  said  Ruth  Hopper. 
"  Let 's  begin  with  the  nearest  thing,  then 
go  on  with  the  next  nearest,  and  so  on 
till  we've  seen  everything." 

This  seemed  a  sensible  plan.  The  near- 
est thing  was  the  new  barn,  part-way 
down  Mr.  Sumner's  little  hill  toward  the 
road. 

You  see,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Sumner  lived 
in  Maine  all  the  year,  winter  and  sum- 
mer. So  they  did  not  build  their  house 
close  by  the  water,  as  the  summer  people 

30 


CEDAR  HILL  FARM 

do,  because  winter  winds  from  the  ocean 
are  terribly  cold.  Mr.  Sumner,  years 
ago,  had  chosen  a  spot  on  the  hillside 
and  had  built  his  warm  house  close  against 
the  sheltering  cedar  woods  which  pro- 
tected the  home  from  the  bitter  north 
winds  of  Old  Winter. 

From  the  back  of  the  house  one  looked 
directly  into  the  woods,  and  the  little  wild 
creatures  of  the  wood  often  came  close 
to  the  kitchen  doorstep,  not  a  bit  afraid 
of  the  house  people  who  never  harmed 
them.  From  the  front  piazza  there  was 
the  loveliest  view  of  the  island-dotted 
blue  waters ;  and  one  could  see  the  bunga- 
low roofs  peeping  out  from  the  trees  close 
to  the  shore. 

The  little  girls  ran  down  to  the  barn, 
but  Arthur  and  Lincoln  went  off  by  them- 
selves. How  sweet  the  barn  smelled  with 
its  new  boards  and  its  haymows  partly 
filled  with  new-mown  hay.  Old  Dan,  Mr. 


THE  LITTLE  HOUSE  IN  THE  WOODS 

Sumner's  horse,  looked  inquiringly  around 
from  his  stall  as  if  to  say :  — 

"Who  are  all  these  chattering  crea- 
tures and  what  do  they  want  here  ?  "  * 

A  mother  hen  had  just  led  her  brood  of 
chickens  into  the  barn  and  she  was  show- 
ing them  how  to  find  the  nice  bits  of 
grain  scattered  on  the  floor.  The  chicken 
family  were  having  a  fine  feast. 

"Oh,  see!  There  's  a  kitty !  "  exclaimed 
Dorothy,  whose  eyes  had  been  eagerly 
taking  in  the  new  sights. 

Sure  enough,  there  was  a  lively  brown- 
and-black  kitten  scampering  up  one  of 
the  posts  of  the  haymow.  The  little  girls 
tried  to  coax  him  down,  but  pussy  did 
not  feel  like  being  petted  just  then,  so  he 
kept  beyond  reach  of  outstretched  hands. 

"You  ought  to  see  Mrs.  Sumner's  old 
cat,"  said  Ruth.  "She's  the  cleverest 
cat  you  ever  saw.  She  is  n't  this  kitten's 
mother,  though.  You  know  Mrs.  Sum- 

32 


CEDAR  HILL  FARM 

ner  can't  keep  lots  of  kittens,  so  when- 
ever Blackie  has  a  new  family  Mrs.  Sum- 
ner  gives  away  all  but  one  of  the  babies. 
Well,  old  Blackie  knows  this,  so  she 
hides  her  babies  up  in  the  woods  until 
they  are  big  and  she  thinks  they  can 
take  care  of  themselves.  Then  she  brings 
them  down  to  the  house.  Mrs.  Sumner 
says  she  never  can  find  the  hiding  place. 
Sometimes  when  she  sees  Blackie  start- 
ing up  the  road  toward  her  kittens,  Mrs. 
Sumner  or  some  one  else  follows  her  at 
a  little  distance.  Then  Blackie  sits  down 
in  the  road  as  if  she  had  just  come  out 
to  look  at  the  view.  After  a  while  the 
people  forget  for  a  minute  to  keep  their 
eyes  on  her,  and  Blackie  always  knows 
just  when  to  disappear  into  the  woods 
while  they  aren't  noticing." 

Dorothy  liked  this  story  very  much 
and  would  have  been  glad  to  hear  more, 
but  Frances  exclaimed  :  — 

33 


THE  LITTLE  HOUSE  IN  THE  WOODS 

"  You  've  seen  enough  of  the  barn  for 
to-day,  have  n't  you,  Dorothy  ?  Let 's 
go  up  to  the  spring  now.  That 's  the  next 
nearest  thing." 

So  the  five  girls  left  the  barn  and  went 
back  up  the  steep  little  path  toward  the 
house.  This  time  Dorothy  noticed  what 
she  had  been  too  excited  to  see  before. 
Almost  half  the  front  of  Mrs.  Sumner's 
house  was  covered  with  bushes  filled  with 
great  clusters  of  crimson  rambler  roses. 
There  were  enough  bouquets  of  roses  on 
the  bushes  to  have  filled  dozens  of  bowls 
and  vases;  and  oh!  how  beautiful  they 
looked  in  the  sunshine. 

Dorothy  was  too  happy  for  words  as 
she  gazed  on  the  lovely  sight,  and  while 
she  stood  drinking  it  in,  Ruth  exclaimed 
in  a  whisper  :  — 

"  Sh-h,  girls !  There 's  a  humming-bird, 
right  by  the  piazza  steps.  Do  you  see 
him?" 

34 


CEDAR  HILL  FARM 

The  girls  stood  like  statues  watching 
the  tiny  humming-bird  that,  poising  his 
wee  body  on  fluttering  wings,  thrust  a 
long  bill  into  the  heart  of  a  flower  and 
took  a  deep  sip  of  the  honey  which  the 
flower  was  glad  to  give  him.  Then  the 
tiny  bird  flew  to  another  flower  and  an- 
other, his  little  body  flashing  like  many 
jewels  in  the  sunlight. 

It  was  a  wonderful  sight  to  the  city 
children,  and  it  pleased  them  that  the 
dainty  creature,  though  he  knew  they 
were  near,  did  not  take  fright  and  flyaway. 

After  a  little  the  beautiful  bird  had 
drunk  his  fill  and  in  a  twinkling  his  hum- 
ming wings  bore  him  out  of  sight.  The 
children  drew  long  breaths  of  joy  at  what 
they  had  seen.  t 

Next  Dorothy  spied  another  interest- 
ing thing. 

"  Oh,  see  the  funny  little  man  on  top 
of  the  pole  !  "  she  cried. 

35 


THE  LITTLE  HOUSE  IN  THE  WOODS 

The  funny  little  man  was  made  of  wood. 
He  was  about  the  size  of  Dorothy's  boy 
doll,  Jack  Sprat.  Mr.  Sumner  had  made 
him  with  broad,  flapping  arms  and  had 
fastened  him  on  top  of  a  pole  in  such  a 
way  that  when  the  wind  blew,  it  caught 
the  flapping  arms  and  made  them  whirl 
round  and  round  and  also  made  Mr.  Wind- 
mill Man  whirl  round  on  his  pole.  When 
the  wind  blew  gently,  Mr.  Windmill  Man 
turned  around  slowly,  but  when  the  wind 
blew  hard,  it  almost  made  you  dizzy  to 
see  how  fast  the  little  man  had  to  whirl. 

Frances  now  took  Dorothy's  hand. 
"We  '11  never  see  half  the  things  if  we 
keep  stopping,"  she  said. 

"  But  Dorothy  is  going  to  stay  all  sum- 
mer/' remarked  practical  Ruth. 

This  thought  did  not  seem  to  make  any 
difference  to  Frances  and  the  two  Mar- 
garets. They  had  the  feeling  that,  since 
Dorothy  had  been  later  in  arriving  than 

36 


CEDAR  HILL  FARM 

the  rest  of  them,  she  must  catch  up  with 
all  the  sights  as  soon  as  possible. 

So  once  more  the  five  little  girls  started 
toward  the  spring.  They  went  around 
back  of  the  house,  where  they  saw  Mr. 
Sumner  carrying  in  an  armful  of  wood 
from  the  woodpile. 

"  Well,  Dorothy,  getting  homesick  for 
the  city  yet?"  asked  Mr.  Sumner  with  a 
twinkle  in  his  eye. 

"Oh,  no"  said  Dorothy.  "I  want  to 
stay  here  always  and  forever." 

Mr.  Sumner  laughed. 

"  I  '11  tell  you.  When  your  father  and 
mother  go  back  in  September,  you  stay 
here  with  Mrs.  Sumner  and  me  and  see 
what  fun  a  Maine  winter  is !  " 

Dorothy  laughed  gayly. 

"  Mother  wouldn't  be  able  to  take  care 
of  Daddy  without  me,"  she  said.  "  But 
when  our  ship  comes  in,  Daddy  says  we 
are  coming  up  here  in  winter." 

37 


THE  LITTLE  HOUSE  IN  THE  WOODS 

Mr.  Sumner  went  on  into  the  house, 
smiling,  and  the  little  girls  soon  reached 
the  rail  fence  that  kept  the  cows  from 
straying  from  their  pasture  into  the  gar- 
den and  down  the  road. 

Frances  and  Ruth,  who  were  the  tallest 
of  the  girls,  held  open  the  gate  for  the 
younger  girls  to  pass  through.  Then  they 
swung  the  gate  carefully  back  into  place 
on  its  great  flat  stone. 

Now  there  was  a  short  walk  along  a 
mossy  path  through  the  woods.  The  path 
was  wet  as  well  as  mossy,  because  there 
were  many  springs  on  this  woodsy  hill- 
side, but  somehow  wet  feet  in  Maine  don't 
seem  to  make  children  catch  cold  as  they 
do  in  the  city. 

Soon  Frances  said :  — 

"  Now  you'd  better  let  me  take  your 
hand,  Dorothy,  because  the  rocks  down 
to  the  spring  are  very  slippery." 

So  Dorothy,  carefully  guided  by 
38 


CEDAR  HILL  FARM  , 

Frances,  stepped  down  the  smooth,  wet 
stones  that  made  a  sort  of  little  stairway 
to  the  spring. 

Oh,  what  a  pretty  sight  she  then  saw ! 
There  was  a  lovely  pool  of  water,  so  clear 
that  every  little  pebble  on  its  bottom 
showed  plainly.  Overhead  the  tall  trees 
made  such  a  deep  shade  that  the  pool 
was  like  a  brown  mirror  in  which  the 
girls  could  see  their  faces.  The  sides  of 
the  rocky  bowl  in  which  the  water  lay 
were  bright  with  vivid  green  moss.  And 
this  little  bowl  of  water,  icy  cold  on  the 
hottest  summer  day,  never  was  empty, 
never  failed  to  supply  refreshing  drink  to 
thirsty  man  and  beast,  even  though  the 
rain  sometimes  forgot  for  a  long  time  to 
come  down  to  the  dry  fields. 

All  the  little  girls  took  long  drinks  of 
water  from  the  mug  that  hung  on  the  low 
bough  of  a  tree  near  by. 

"Now  we  must  show  the  reservoir  to 
39 


THE  LITTLE  HOUSE  IN  THE  WOODS 

Dorothy,"  said  Ruth.  "You  see,  Doro- 
thy, the  water  flows  out  of  this  pool  and 
runs  down  the  hill  as  a  little  brook.  Part- 
way down  the  hill  Mr.  Sumner  and  Mr. 
Gifford  dug  a  hole  and  lined  it  with  ce- 
ment and  that 's  the  reservoir.  The  brook 
flows  into  the  reservoir  and  keeps  it  full, 
and  pipes  carry  the  water  down  across 
the  fields  to  the  bungalows." 

The  girls  scrambled  down  the  rough 
hillside  to  gaze  into  the  reservoir. 

"I  don't  think  it's  very  pretty,"  said 
Dorothy. 

"  No.  God's  pool  is  lots  prettier,"  said 
Ruth.  "  But  this  is  very  useful  to  our 
mothers." 

"Oh,  now  do  let's  go  down  to  show 
the  tree-house!  "  begged  Margaret  Fair- 
field. 

"  But  what  about  our  play-house  up 
here  in  the  woods ?"  asked  Ruth.  "That's 
so  near  it  won't  take  long  to  show  that." 

40 


CEDAR  HILL  FARM 

"  Well,  do  let's  hurry  then,"  said  Mar- 
garet. 

The  girls  turned  back  and  climbed  the 
hill  a  short  distance.  The  two  Margarets 
ran  ahead  while  Ruth  and  Frances  helped 
Dorothy  up  the  rough  path.  Soon  the 
Margarets  stopped  at  a  place  where  two 
slender  trees  stood  side  by  side. 

"  This  is  the  door  to  our  house,  Doro- 
thy," called  Margaret  Say  re.  "We  two 
Margarets  will  go  inside,  then  you  must 
ring  the  bell  and  we  '11  let  you  in.  Re- 
member, when  you  come  into  the  house 
you  must  walk  between  these  two  trees." 

Dorothy  loved  this  kind  of  play. 
Frances  showed  her  a  round  knob  on 
one  tree-trunk.  This  was  the  doorbell. 
Dorothy  pressed  the  knob. 

"  Ding-a-ling-a-ling !  "  she  heard. 

Then  Mrs.  Margaret  Sayre  and  Mrs. 
Margaret  Fairfield  came  to  the  door  and 
most  politely  invited  their  friends  to  step 


THE  LITTLE  HOUSE  IN  THE  WOODS 

inside.  The  doorway  was  so  narrow  that 
the  ladies  had  to  walk  in  single  file. 

"We  have  brought  our  friend  Mrs. 
Rogers  to  see  your  new  house,"  explained 
Mrs.  Frances. 

"We're  delighted  to  see  you,"  said 
Mrs.  Margaret  Sayre.  "  You  see  the  house 
is  just  finished  and  we  are  n't  really  set- 
tled yet.  That 's  why  we  answered  the 
bell  instead  of  sending  the  maid." 

"  Here  is  the  drawing-room,"  said  Mrs. 
Margaret  Fairfield,  leading  the  girls  to  a 
broad,  flat  place,  carpeted  with  moss  and 
with  round  moss -covered  rocks  lying 
about  here  and  there  on  the  ground. 

"  You  see,  we  have  our  drawing-room 
decorated  in  green,"  explained  Mrs.  Sayre. 
"Try  one  of  our  green  velvet  chairs 
and  see  how  comfortable  they  are,  Mrs. 
Rogers." 

Dorothy  seated  herself  on  a  mossy  stone, 
declaring  it  was  very  comfortable,  indeed. 

42 


CEDAR  HILL  FARM 

Next  the  ladies  climbed  a  few  steps  to 
the  library.  On  the  floor  above  were  the 
bedrooms.  Each  lady  showed  a  mossy 
hollow  which  she  had  chosen  for  her  bed. 

Dorothy  tried  each  bed  just  as  Golden 
Hair  tried  the  beds  of  the  Three  Bears. 

"  Here  's  my  rocking-chair,  Dorothy. 
You  must  try  this,"  called  Mrs.  Say  re 
from  her  bedroom. 

There,  to  be  sure,  was  a  stone,  round 
on  its  under  side,  flat  on  top,  and  just  large 
enough  to  hold  a  little  girl.  This  stone 
rested  on  a  broad  level  stone  in  such  a 
way  that  the  little  girl  could  rock  back 
and  forth  as  she  sat  on  her  "  chair." 

The  dining-room  was  visited  next,  and 
here  the  ladies  sat  around  a  tree-stump 
table  while  the  footman  and  the  second 
footman  served  ice-cream  and  afternoon 
tea.  I  am  afraid  that  the  footman  and  the 
second  footman  must  have  thought  that 
their  mistresses  ate  a  great  deal  faster  than 

43 


THE  LITTLE  HOUSE  IN  THE  WOODS 

was  strictly  polite,  but  being  well-trained 
servants  their  faces  did  not  show  what 
they  were  thinking. 

Now  the  ladies  all  jumped  up  from  the 
table  and  scrambled  down  the  hill  along 
the  path  back  to  the  farmhouse. 

Here  Mrs.  Sumner  met  them. 

"  Girls,"  she  said,  "Dorothy's  mother 
left  word  that  Dorothy  was  to  come  home 
before  you  started  on  another  expedition. 
You  know  Dorothy  has  just  taken  a  long 
journey,  and  if  you  try  to  show  her  every- 
thing the  first  day  you  may  tire  her  so 
she  won't  be  able  to  get  out  of  bed  to- 
morrow !  " 

The  girls  looked  startled  at  this  idea. 

"Why,  we  ought  to  have  thought!" 
exclaimed  Ruth.  "Dorothy  is  so  much 
smaller  than  we  are,  and  traveling  at 
night  is  very  tiring.  Never  mind,  Dorothy. 
We  Ve  weeks  and  weeks  ahead  and  you 
shall  see  everything  before  long." 

44 


CEDAR  HILL  FARM 

The  girls,  looking  quite  sober  and  dis- 
appointed, but  realizing  that  Dorothy's 
mother  knew  what  was  best,  walked  down 
Mr.  Sumner's  path,  past  the  duck  pond, 
across  the  main  road,  along  by  the  grain 
field,  and  through  the  woods  to  Dorothy's 
bungalow. 

No  sooner  had  the  girls  called  good- 
bye and  started  on  toward  Uncle  Ned's 
house  than  Dorothy  ran  in  to  her  mother, 
almost  ready  to  burst  into  tears  because 
she  could  not  go  with  the  girls.  But  Mother 
took  her  little  daughter  into  her  lap  and 
told  her  stories  about  the  lovely  times 
they  were  going  to  have  all  summer  long; 
and  presently  Dorothy  found  she  was  so 
tired  that  after  all  she  was  glad  to  be  quiet 
for  a  while. 

She  played  inside  of  the  little  house 
until  supper-time.  Almost  before  she  had 
finished  her  bread  and  milk,  Dorothy's 
head  was  nodding  with  sleepiness,  and 

45 


THE  LITTLE  HOUSE  IN  THE  WOODS 

she  was  quite  willing  to  go  to  the  little 
cot  bed  in  her  own  little  room  to  get  a 
long  sleep  so  as  to  be  ready  for  the  next 
day's  fun. 


Chapter  III 


THE  TREE  HOUSE 


D 


CHAPTER  III 

THE  TREE  HOUSE 

OROTH  Y  woke  quite  early  the  next 
morning.  At  first  she  did  not  realize 
where  she  was.  She  looked  about  her  in 
wonder,  not  seeing  the  familiar  city  bed- 
room furnishings. 

In  half  a  minute,  however,  she  remem- 
bered. She  sprang  joyfully  out  of  her  lit- 
tle cot  bed  and  ran  to  her  window.  The 
trees  came  so  close  to  the  window  that 
Dorothy  could  almost  touch  their  leaves. 
Among  the  branches  a  pair  of  birds  were 
flying  about,  carrying  breakfast  to  their 
babies  and  chattering  busily  the  morn- 
ing's news  of  Birdland. 

Dorothy  ran  into  the  living-room.  No 
one  was  there.  Then  she  ran  into  Father's 
and  Mother's  bedroom.  That  was  empty 
too.  Next  she  tried  the  kitchen,  and  there 

49 


THE  LITTLE  HOUSE  IN  THE  WOODS 

she  spied  Mother  out  on  the  little  back 
porch. 

"  Where's  Daddy,  Mother?"  asked 
Dorothy. 

"  He  has  gone  off  in  the  '  George '  with 
Uncle  James  to  Bock's  Harbor,"  said 
Mother. 

"  George"  was  the  name  of  a  motor- 
boat  owned  by  Uncle  James  and  Uncle 
Ned.  Sometimes  when  the  people  were 
out  sailing  in  "Nokomis,"  the  wind  died 
down  so  that  "  Nokomis  "  could  not  move 
ahead  at  all.  You  see,  a  sailboat  always 
needs  wind  to  blow  on  its  sails  and  push 
it  through  the  water.  When  "  Nokomis  " 
was  " becalmed"  -that's  what  they  call 
it  when  a  sailboat  lies  still  for  lack  of  a 
breeze  —  Uncle  James  would  say:  — 

"Well,  we'll  have  to  'let  George  do 
it'!" 

Then  the  uncles  would  fasten  "Noko- 
mis "  by  a  rope  to  "  George,"  would  start 

50 


THE  TREE  HOUSE 

"George's"  engine,  and  the  little  motor- 
boat  would  go  chugging  ahead  pulling 
big  "Nokomis"  behind  it  all  the  way 
home. 

This  morning  Uncle  James  and  Father 
were  taking  a  trip  in  the  "  George,"  but 
"  Nokomis  "  was  left  at  home. 

"  Put  on  your  clothes  now,  Daughter," 
said  Mother.  "  There 's  a  delicious  break- 
fast waiting  for  you  out  on  the  piazza." 

I  don' t  believe  Dorothy  had  ever  dressed 
so  quickly  in  her  life  as  she  did  that  morn- 
ing, and  Mother  did  not  have  to  help  her 
much,  either.  When  the  hair-ribbon  was 
tied,  Dorothy  ran  out  on  the  piazza. 

There  was  the  breakfast-table  set  for 
one.  Father  and  Mother  had  eaten  their 
breakfast  while  Dorothy  slept.  On  the 
table  Mother  had  placed,  instead  of  a 
large  white  cloth,  two  flowered  Japanese 
" runners,"  with  little  doilies  to  match; 
and  a  clear  glass  bowl  filled  with  brilliant 


THE  LITTLE  HOUSE  IN  THE  WOODS 

nasturtium  flowers  stood  in  the  center  of 
the  table. 

"Oh,  aren't  the  nasturtiums  lovely  1" 
exclaimed  Dorothy  as  she  climbed  into 
her  chair. 

"Yes,  indeed!"  said  Mother,  tying  on 
Dorothy's  bib.  "And  Aunt  Jessie  tells 
us  we  may  have  all  we  wish  to  pick.  She 
sent  these  by  Uncle  Ned  this  morning 
with  the  delicious  muffins  which  you  will 
soon  taste/' 

Dorothy  looked  over  the  table  with 
sparkling  eyes.  There  was  a  great  bowl 
of  blueberries,  the  fattest,  bluest  blueber- 
ries you  ever  saw. 

"Where  did  the  berries  come  from, 
Mother?"  asked  Dorothy. 

"  Lincoln  and  Arthur  picked  those  for 
us,"  said  Mother.  "And  the  butter  and 
cream  Mrs.  Drake  brought  us  from  her 
farm  up  beyond  the  village." 

"  Everybody  brings  us  something !  We 
52 


SHE  LOOKED  DOWN  THROUGH  THE  TREES  TO  THE 
SPARKLING  WATER 


THE  TREE  HOUSE 

don't  have  to  go  to  stores  here  to  buy 
things,"  said  Dorothy. 

Mother  laughed. 

"  I  think  we  shall  be  able  to  buy  enough 
at  Mr.  Gifford'  s  store  to  save  our  kind 
neighbors  from  having  to  feed  us  all  sum- 
mer," she  said. 

Dorothy  now  set  busily  to  work  eating. 
Between  bites  she  looked  down  through 
the  trees  to  the  sparkling  water.  The  little 
boats  fastened  at  the  pier  were  bobbing 
and  pulling  at  their  ropes.  "Nokomis," 
anchored  out  in  deep  water,  was  bowing 
this  way  and  that  as  the  fresh  breezes 
and  the  merry  waves  swung  her  about  at 
her  moorings.  Out  at  the  weir  men  in 
boats  were  taking  the  shining  fishes  from 
the  bottom  of  the  net  to  be  carried  away 
and  sold  for  hungry  people's  dinners.  Be- 
yond the  weir,  across  the  cove,  Blue 
Mountain  seemed  so  close  in  the  clear  air 
that  Dorothy  thought  she  could  see  the 

53 


THE  LITTLE  HOUSE  IN  THE  WOODS 

birds  among  the  trees  which  covered  the 
mountain  to  its  very  top. 

As  Dorothy  was  finishing  the  lastcrumb 
of  the  last  muffin,  she  saw  Margaret  Fair- 
field  coming  across  the  beach. 

"Oh,  Mother,  here's  Margaret!  May 
I  go  with  her  ?  "  Dorothy  called,  jumping 
hurriedly  down  from  her  chair. 

"  Suppose  you  wait  to  see  if  Margaret 
is  coming  for  you  or  going  on  an  errand 
for  Aunt  Jessie,"  said  Mother. 

"  Oh,  I  'm  sure  she  's  coming  for  me," 
exclaimed  Dorothy,  and  she  ran  down 
the  piazza  steps  toward  Margaret. 

"  Hello,  Dorothy,"  said  Margaret  as 
the  little  girls  met.  "Can  you  come  over 
to  our  woods  now  to  see  the  tree  house?" 

"  I'll  ask  Mother,"  said  Dorothy  eagerly. 

Mother  did  not  wait  to  be  asked.  She 
said :  - 

"  Run  along  and  have  a  good  time, 
dearie." 

54 


THE  TREE  HOUSE 

So  the  little  girls  climbed  down  the 
rocks  to  the  beach,  crunched  along  the 
pebbles  till  they  came  almost  to  Marga- 
ret's house.  Then  they  turned  into  a  path 
between  the  trees  back  of  the  house. 

"  These  are  our  woods,"  said  Margaret, 
"  back  as  far  as  that  fence.  Daddy  bought 
this  land  of  Mr.  Sumner.  I  saw  Daddy 
and  Mr.  Sumner  chop  down  the  trees  to 
make  room  for  building  the  bungalow. 
They  were  'most  all  fir  trees  and  we  made 
lots  of  pillows  out  of  the  balsam." 

"  What's  balsam?"  asked  Dorothy. 

" That's  what  grows  on  the  branches 
of  a  balsam  fir.  It  smells  so  sweet.  Mother 
stuffed  lots  of  pillows  with  it  —  little  sofa 
pillows,  not  big  ones,  you  know.  We 
have  some  at  home  in  the  city,  and  when 
the  weather  is  damp  they  make  our  liv- 
ing-room smell  so  good  we  all  say,  '  Oh, 
don't  you  wish  we  were  in  Maine  this 
minute?'" 

55 


THE  LITTLE  HOUSE  IN  THE  WOODS 

"  Did  Uncle  Ned  build  your  bungalow 
too?"  asked  Dorothy. 

"  No,  Mr.  Gifford  and  some  other  men 
built  it  one  spring  before  we  came  up. 
Before  the  bungalow  was  built  we  used 
to  live  at  Mrs.  Sumner's.  That  was  when 
I  was  smaller  than  you  are  now.  You 
were  n't  five  years  old  then  and  your 
family  did  not  come  to  Maine  in  those 
days." 

Just  then  the  little  girls  spied  Mar- 
garet's father  sawing  wood  under  the 
trees. 

"Oh,  Daddy,  I  want  Dorothy  to  see 
the  tree  house.  Will  you  help  her  up 
into  it?"  asked  Margaret. 

"With  pleasure,  ladies,"  said  Uncle 
Ned,  laying  down  his  saw  and  walking 
along  with  the  little  girls. 

Only  a  few  more  steps  and  Margaret 
exclaimed :  — 

"  Here  we  are  !  See,  Dorothy,  how  these 
56 


THE  TREE  HOUSE 

four  trees  stand  at  the  corners  of  a  square? 
Daddy  said  they  must  have  been  meant 
for  the  corner  posts  of  a  house.  You  know 
how  the  Swiss  Family  Robinson  lived  in 
a  tree  house  once.  Well,  Daddy  made  the 
floor  across  those  limbs  up  there,  and  Ar- 
thur and  Lincoln  made  the  sides  and  the 
roof.  And  here  's  a  ladder  up  to  the  door 
of  our  house." 

Margaret  now  began  to  climb  the  lad- 
der, which  had  been  made  by  nailing 
boards  across  the  trunks  of  two  of  the 
trees.  She  pushed  her  way  through  the 
opening  in  the  floor  of  the  house*  and  then 
called  out:  — 

"  Now,  Daddy,  let  Dorothy  come  up !  " 

Dorothy  looked  a  little  bit  alarmed, 
even  though  she  was  very  eager  to  see 
what  it  was  like  to  be  in  a  tree  house. 
Uncle  Ned  noticed. 

"  Don't  be  frightened,  Dorothy,"  he 
said.  "  I  '11  see  that  you  get  safely  up  and 

57 


THE  LITTLE  HOUSE  IN  THE  WOODS 

down.  But  you  must  never  try  to  do  this 
alone.  Remember,  Margaret.  You  chil- 
dren must  not  coax  Dorothy  up  into  the 
tree  even  if  the  big  boys  offer  to  help.  It 
needs  a  grown  person  to  help  such  a  little 
girl  as  Dorothy." 

Margaret  promised  to  remember.  Then 
Uncle  Ned  kept  a  strong  hold  of  Dorothy, 
not  only  while  she  climbed  the  ladder,  but 
until  she  was  safely  seated  on  the  floor  of 
the  house. 

As  soon  as  Dorothy  was  inside  Mar- 
garet said  to  her :  — 

"Now,  Dorothy,  you  sit  in  that  corner 
away  from  the  hole  in  the  floor  through 
which  we  climbed.  Then  I  '11  cover  the 
hole  by  our  trap-door  and  we  '11  be  as 
snug  as  a  bug  in  a  rug." 

Dorothy  seated  herself  carefully  as 
Margaret  told  her  to  do.  Then  Margaret 
closed  the  trap-door  over  the  hole  and  sat 
down  in  the  next  corner. 

58 


THE  TREE  HOUSE 

Dorothy  looked  about  her  with  shining 
eyes.  The  house  was  so  small  that  not 
more  than  four  children  at  a  time  could 
have  sat  in  it,  and  they  would  have  had  to 
sit  close  and  not  wiggle.  It  was  not  very 
light  inside  the  house  either,  because  the 
windows  cut  in  the  walls  were  very  tiny. 
But  these  things  made  it  all  the  nicer, 
Dorothy  thought.  The  ordinary  houses 
people  lived  in  were  large  and  light.  This 
tree  house  was  not  an  ordinary  house,  so 
of  course  it  should  not  be  like  big  people's 
houses. 

There  were  little  chairs  and  a  table  in 
the  tree  house,  but  these  were  doll-size, 
not  girl-size.  The  walls  were  decorated 
with  pictures,  pine  needles,  and  bunches 
of  some  peculiar,  sharp-pointed  things 
that  Dorothy  had  never  seen  before. 

"  What  are  those,  Margaret  ?"  Dorothy 
asked,  pointing  to  the  sharp  objects. 

"  Those  are  porcupine  quills/'  answered 
59 


THE  LITTLE  HOUSE  IN  THE  WOODS 

Margaret.  "  Mr.  Sumner  gave  them  to  us. 
A  porcupine  is  an  animal  about  as  big  as  a 
dog.  He  is  covered  with  those  spiny  things 
instead  of  with  hair,  so  if  an  enemy  tries  to 
catch  him  he  throws  his  needles  into  the 
enemy  and  gets  away  safely  himself." 

This  was  very  interesting  to  Dorothy. 
She  asked  Margaret  many  questions  about 
the  porcupine,  and  about  who  made  the 
chairs  and  the  table,  and  whether  the  chil- 
dren ever  ate  their  lunches  there.  She  and 
Margaret  were  having  a  beautiful  time 
when  they  heard  Uncle  Ned's  voice  call- 
ing:— 

"  Have  you  seen  it  all  now,  little  girls? 
I  ought  to  get  back  to  my  woodpile  soon." 

"All  right,  Daddy,  we're  ready,"  said 
Margaret. 

Then  Uncle  Ned  helped  Dorothy  down 
very  carefully  and  Margaret  followed 
without  any  help. 

"  Thank  you,  Daddy,"  said  Margaret, 
60 


THE  TREE  HOUSE 

and  "  Thank  you  very  much,  Uncle  Ned/' 
said  Dorothy. 

"  You  're  very  welcome,  little  girls,"  said 
Uncle  Ned.  Then  he  turned  back  to  his 
woodpile  to  finish  sawing  logs  into  the 
right  lengths  for  the  evening  fire  in  the 
great  fireplace. 

"Now  you  must  see  the  swing,  Dor- 
othy," said  Margaret.  "Would  you  like 
me  to  give  you  a  turn  at  the  swing?" 

"No,  thank  you,"  said  Dorothy. 
"Swinging  makes  me  dizzy." 

"All  right,  we'll  just  look  at  it,  then," 
said  Margaret. 

So  Dorothy  was  shown  the  swing  near 
the  tree  house,  but  that  was  the  first  thing 
she  had  seen  in  Maine  that  did  not  inter- 
est her.  She  remembered  the  time  when 
she  had  been  miserably  ill  all  night  as  a 
result  of  swinging,  and  she  thought  she 
would  always  hate  swings  because  of  that 
unpleasant  experience. 

61 


THE  LITTLE  HOUSE  IN  THE  WOODS 

"  Now  you  must  see  the  vegetable  gar- 
den and  the  nasturtium  bed,  Dorothy," 
said  Margaret. 

Hand  in  hand  the  little  girls  walked  on 
a  short  distance  in  the  shady  woods,  and 
then  they  came  out  into  the  bright  sun- 
shine of  a  broad,  open  space  where  there 
were  n't  any  trees. 

"This  is  the  vegetable  garden,  Dor- 
othy," said  Margaret.  "In  spring,  before 
we  come  up,  Aunt  Mary  Drake  gets  a  man 
to  plough  and  plant  for  Daddy,  and  then 
after  we  get  here  in  June  we  take  care  of 
the  garden.  We  have  lima  beans  and  peas 
and  lettuce  and  radishes  and  beets  and 
potatoes  and  string  beans." 

Margaret  had  hardly  finished  speaking 
before  Dorothy  caught  sight  of  the  nas- 
turtium bed. 

"Oh,  Margaret,"  she  cried,  "what lots 
of  nasturtiums !  I  never  saw  so  many  in 
my  life!" 

62 


THE  TREE  HOUSE 

"Yes,  isn't  it  a  long  row  of  them?"  said 
Margaret.  "  Would  you  like  to  pick  some 
now?  You  know  you  may  have  all  you 
want.  They  grow  better  for  being  picked 
every  day." 

"  Oh,  goody ! "  exclaimed  Dorothy.  "  I  'd 
like  to  take  some  home  to  Mother." 

The  little  girls  then  began  busily  pick- 
ing the  bright  flowers.  There  were  so 
many  lovely  colors,  pale  yellow  and  deep 
yellow  and  orange  and  dark,  velvety  crim- 
son and  bright  red,  and  ever  so  many 
shades  of  color  that  Dorothy  had  n't  a 
name  for.  The  girls  picked  all  their  hands 
could  hold,  and  still  there  were  plenty  left 
to  furnish  honey  for  the  bees  that  were 
buzzing  from  flower  to  flower. 

"  We  'd  better  take  these  home  and  put 
them  into  water  before  we  do  anything 
else,"  said  Margaret.  "You  can  leave 
yours  at  our  house,  Dorothy,  till  you  get 
ready  to  go  home." 

63 


THE  LITTLE  HOUSE  IN  THE  WOODS 

So  Margaret  and  Dorothy  walked  back 
through  the  woods  to  Margaret's  house. 
On  the  piazza  they  found  Aunt  Jessie  with 
Baby  Billy  and  the  two  Miss  Harts.  Aunt 
Jessie  was  putting  a  patch  on  Frances's 
khaki  bloomers,  Miss  Grace  Hart  was  tat- 
ting a  pretty  collar,  and  Miss  Hart,  who 
"  hated  to  sew,"  was  busily  engaged  in  try- 
ing to  keep  lively  Billy  from  seizing  the 
scissors  and  needles  or  falling  off  the  edge 
of  the  piazza. 

Dorothy  gave  a  cry  of  delight  at  sight 
of  Billy.  She  hastily  put  her  nasturtiums 
down  on  the  Gloucester  hammock  and 
then  dropped  on  to  the  floor  beside  the 
roguish  baby.  Billy  gave  a  long  look  into 
the  face  of  this  new  friend.  Then  he  de- 
cided he  liked  Dorothy.  He  smiled  his 
sweetest  smile,  showing  all  the  sparkles 
in  his  eyes  and  the  dimples  in  his  cheeks. 
He  submitted  to  a  hug  from  Dorothy  and 
then  he  pulled  away  and  started  again  on 

64 


THE  TREE  HOUSE 

his  travels.  Although  he  could  not  walk 
alone,  he  could  creep  so  fast  that  it  took 
a  very  lively  and  attentive  nurse  to  save 
the  baby  from  getting  into  mischief  and 
hurting  himself. 

Dorothy  now  devoted  herself  to  play- 
ing with  Billy.  He  liked  this  very  much 
and  both  little  people  had  a  beautiful  time. 

Meanwhile  Margaret  had  carried  both 
bouquets  of  flowers  into  the  house  and 
put  them  into  vases  of  water.  Presently 
she  came  out  and  joined  Dorothy  in  play- 
ing with  the  baby.  The  girls  each  took 
one  of  Billy's  fat  little  hands  and  helped 
him  to  walk  up  and  down  the  piazza. 

Billy  was  very  proud  of  being  able  to 
do  this.  He  was  in  such  a  hurry  to  get 
from  one  place  to  another  that  his  little 
feet  danced  along  and  he  crowed  and 
chuckled  with  delight.  The  girls  had  to 
hold  tight  to  keep  the  baby  from  toppling 
over  in  his  glee. 

65 


THE  LITTLE  HOUSE  IN  THE  WOODS 

The  fun  lasted  quite  a  long  time,  but 
finally  Aunt  Jessie  said :  — 

"  Now,  Billy  Boy,  it 's  time  for  luncheon 
and  nap.  Come  with  Mother  and  get  some 
nice  bread  and  milk." 

But  Billy  did  not  like  to  have  his  play 
interrupted.  He  scolded  vigorously  as 
Mother  carried  him  away,  but  the  cry- 
ing lasted  only  a  minute.  Billy  was  so 
sweet-natured-  and  his  mother  knew  so 
well  how  to  interest  him  in  a  new  thing 
to  make  him  forget  what  he  was  crying 
about,  that  Billy's  smiles  always  chased 
his  tears  away  in  a  hurry. 

"  What  would  you  like  to  do  next?" 
asked  Margaret  of  Dorothy. 

"  I  don't  know.  Anything !  "  answered 
Dorothy. 

"  I  think  it  s  a  good  day  for  bathing, 
girls,"  said  Miss  Hart.  "  And  it  is  almost 
bathing  time  if  you  are  going  in  to-day." 

"Oh,  yes,"  said  Margaret.  "  Let's  go 
66 


THE  TREE  HOUSE 

right  over  and  ask  your  mother  if  you 
may  go  in,  Dorothy." 

"All  right,"  said  Dorothy,  "  but  first 
let  me  get  the  nasturtiums  for  Mother." 

Taking  Dorothy's  flowers  out  of  the 
water,  the  little  girls  hastened  across  the 
beach  toward  Dorothy's  bungalow.  Half- 
way across  they  met  Frances  and  Ruth. 

"  Where  have  you  been  all  the  morn- 
ing?" Margaret  asked. 

" We've  been  posing  for  Father,"  said 
Ruth. 

Dorothy  did  not  know  what  Ruth 
meant,  but  later  she  found  that  Ruth's 
father  was  an  artist  who  made  pictures 
to  go  into  books.  When  Mr.  Hopper 
wanted  a  picture  for  a  girls'  story,  some- 
times Ruth  and  Frances  " posed"  as  the 
story-book  girls. 

"  Where's  Margaret  Sayre  ?  "  asked 
Dorothy. 

"  She 's  up  at  Mrs.  Sumner's,"  an- 
67 


THE  LITTLE  HOUSE  IN  THE  WOODS 

swered  Frances.  "  She  was  n't  feeling 
very  well  and  her  mother  told  her  that 
if  she  wanted  to  go  sailing  this  afternoon 
she'd  have  to  keep  quiet  this  morning." 

"  Are  you  going  in  bathing,  Dorothy?  " 
asked  Ruth. 

"  I  'm  going  to  ask  my  mother  now  if 
I  may,"  said  Dorothy. 

" All  right,  we'll  see  you  later." 

Ruth  and  Frances  then  went  on  to 
Frances's  room  to  put  on  their  bathing- 
suits,  while  Margaret  and  Dorothy  hur- 
ried into  the  little  bungalow,  Dorothy 
calling :  — 

"  Mother!  Mother!  May  I  go  in  bath- 
ing? All  the  other  children  are!" 

Mother  looked  a  little  doubtful. 

"  Why,  dearie,  I  'm  not  sure  it  would 
be  best  for  you.  The  water  is  so  cold,  and 
you  have  n't  your  *  sea  legs '  on  yet." 

"Oh,  Mother /"  said  Dorothy  plead- 
ingly, the  tears  starting  to  her  eyes.  "And 

68 


THE  TREE  HOUSE 

I  Ve  got  a  new  bathing-suit  all  ready  and 
bathing-shoes,  too !  " 

Just  then  Father's  step  was  heard  on 
the  piazza. 

"We'll  ask  Father  what  he  thinks 
about  it,"  said  Mother. 

Father's  answer  was  that  he  would  go 
into  the  water  first  and  find  out  whether 
it  was  too  cold,  and  that  anyhow  it  would 
be  safe  for  Dorothy  to  put  on  her  bathing- 
suit  ready  to  wade  for  a  little  while  even 
if  she  did  not  get  into  the  water  "all 
over." 

This  answer  sent  Margaret  flying  back 
to  her  house  to  change  her  clothes  while 
Dorothy  was  helped  into  the  new  bath- 
ing-suit. 

When  the  suit  and  slippers  were  on  and 
hairpins  had  fastened  the  hair  close  about 
her  little  round  head,  Dorothy  capered 
about  the  living-room  calling  :  — 

"  Now  I  'm  not  a  girl  any  longer,  Mother 
69 


THE  LITTLE  HOUSE  IN  THE  WOODS 

and  Daddy !  I  'm  your  boy  Jack !  I  have 
short  hair  and  a  boy  suit  on !  " 

Just  then  Father  appeared  in  his  bath- 
ing-suit which  was  quite  like  Dorothy's, 
gray,  with  a  white  border  at  neck  and 
arms  and  knees. 

"  Daddy  and  I  are  twins,"  cried  Doro- 
thy; "only  Daddy  hasn't  on  bathing- 
slippers.  Why  haven't  you,  Daddy?" 
she  asked. 

"Because  my  feet  aren't  as  tender  as 
little-girl  feet,"  answered  Father.  "The 
pebbles  and  the  barnacles  would  cut  your 
skin  till  it  bled,  but  they  won't  hurt  my 
tough  hide." 

"  Are  n't  you  going  in,  Mother  ?  "  asked 
Dorothy. 

"No,  thank  you,"  said  Mother,  with  a 
shudder.  "  Penobscot  water  suits  me  per- 
fectly to  look  at  and  to  sail  on,  but  I  prefer 
my  bath- water  warmed." 

Dorothy  now  ran  down  to  the  beach 
70 


THE  TREE  HOUSE 

where  the  girls,  all  in  their  bathing-suits, 
were  waiting  for  her  before  plunging  into 
the  water.  The  Misses  Hart  were  seated 
on  one  of  the  great  rocks  ready  to  watch 
the  fun,  and  Mother  and  Aunt  Jessie  soon 
joined  them,  "  as  audience  for  the  show," 
they  said.  The  men  and  boys  had  all  gath- 
ered at  the  little  pier.  Wading  out  from  the 
beach  was  too  tame  for  them.  They  wanted 
to  dive  off  the  pier  and  swim  in  deep  water. 

Soon  there  was  a  merry  crowd  swim- 
ming and  splashing  about  in  Penobscot 
Bay.  Frances  could  swim  as  well  as  any 
boy,  and  she  struck  out  from  the  beach 
for  the  pier.  Ruth  was  just  beginning  to 
learn  -to  swim.  Uncle  James  came  over 
to  help  her.  Margaret  had  n't  learned  how 
yet,  and  she  always  hated  to  make  the  first 
plunge  to  get  wet  up  to  her  shoulders. 
Aunt  Jessie  would  call  from  the  rocks:  — 

"  Hurry,  Margaret !  Don't  stand  so  long 
'  shivering  on  the  brink ' !  " 


THE  LITTLE  HOUSE  IN  THE  WOODS 

As  for  Dorothy,  the  first  touch  of  the 
cold  water  on  her  bare  legs  decided  her 
that  she  did  not  care  for  anything  but 
wading  to-day.  This  was  one  thing  about 
Maine,  she  thought,  that  wasn't  quite 
so  nice  as  home.  The  surf-bathing  with 
Father  in  the  warm  ocean  near  her  city 
home  was  one  of  her  great  delights.  But 
then,  Maine  was  so  much  lovelier  in  every 
other  way  that  who  cared  that  the  water 
was  too  cold  to  suit  a  tender  little  girl  ? 
The  boys  and  men  and  Frances  loved  it 
and  maybe  the  other  girls  would  learn  to 
like  it  after  a  while. 

It  seemed  as  if  the  bathing  and  wading 
had  lasted  only  a  minute  or  two  before 
the  mothers  were  calling:  — 

"Time  to  come  out,  kiddies!  You  Ve 
been  in  long  enough." 

It  was  odd  to  see  how  the  same  chil- 
dren who  had  dreaded  the  cold  water  in 
the  first  place  hated  to  leave  it  now  that 

72 


SHE  DID  NOT  CARE  FOR  ANYTHING  BUT  WADING 
TO-DAY 


THE  TREE  HOUSE 

they  were  warmed  up  with  the  exercise. 
The  mothers  had  to  call  more  than  once 
to  get  the  children  started,  but  the  older 
people  knew  that  too  many  minutes  in 
Penobscot  Bay  would  mean  sick  children 
to-morrow. 

Soon  bare,  glistening  legs  were  scam- 
pering toward  the  bungalows,  carrying 
bodies  clad  in  clinging  wet  suits ;  and  in 
another  minute  rough  towels  were  giving 
rub-downs  that  made  white  skins  glow 
red  and  the  people  inside  the  skins  feel, 
oh !  so  good,  and  oh !  so  hungry. 

By  the  time  real  clothes  were  on  again 
Mr.  Sumner's  conch  shell  was  heard  and 
the  children,  not  waiting  for  their  fathers 
and  mothers,  raced  up  to  Cedar  Hill  Farm 
and  began  eating  their  dinners  as  if  they 
were  just  about  starved  to  death ! 


Chapter  IV 


THE  SAIL  IN  "NOKOMIS 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE  SAIL  IN  "NOKOMIS" 

AFTER  dinner  Uncle  Ned  said :  - 
"  Who    wants    to   go    sailing  this 
afternoon  ?  " 

"I  do!  I  do!  I  do!"  shouted  all  the 
little  girls. 

The  boys  did  not  say  anything.  They 
had  other  plans  for  the  afternoon. 

Most  of  the  grown  people  wanted  to 
go,  however. 

So  Uncle  Ned  said :  — 

"Be  ready  in  an  hour,  then,  every- 
body." 

Before  the  end  of  the  hour  the  com- 
pany began  to  gather.  The  girls  were 
already  playing  on  the  float  as  the  grown 
people  drew  near. 

There  was  Aunt  Elizabeth  crossing  the 
little  bridge  from  her  island.  The  Cedar 

77 


THE  LITTLE  HOUSE  IN  THE  WOODS 

Hill  Farm  people,  in  shady  hats  and 
with  sweaters  on  their  arms,  were  strag- 
gling down  through  the  woods.  Uncle 
Ned  was  galloping  across  the  beach  play- 
ing horse  for  delighted  Billy  perched  on 
his  shoulder. 

Some  of  the  men  had  rowed  out  to 
"Nokomis"  where  they  were  hoisting 
sail  and  making  ready  for  the  trip,  while 
Dorothy's  father  was  rowing  back  to  the 
pier  for  a  load  of  passengers. 

In  a  minute  Father's  boat  was  filled 
with  people  who  soon  were  climbing  out 
of  the  little  boat  into  big  "  Nokomis." 
Then  Dorothy's  father  went  back  for  an- 
other load. 

It  was  not  long  before  every  one  was 
aboard.  There  were  most  of  the  Fair- 
fields  and  all  of  the  Rogerses  and  the 
Sayres,  the  two  Miss  Harts,  Mr.  Bur- 
chard,  and  Ruth  Hopper.  Ruth's  father 
could  not  leave  his  work  and  Mrs.  Hop- 

78 


THE  SAIL  IN  NOKOMIS 

per  said  that  David  had  missed  too  many 
naps  lately  so  she  was  staying  with  him. 

The  passengers  quickly  made  ready 
for  the  sailing. 

Ruth  and  Frances  climbed  away  out 
on  the  roof  of  the  little  cabin  and  lay  on 
their  " tummies"  near  the  bow  of  the 
boat.  Some  of  the  fathers  sat  out  on  the 
deck  too.  Dorothy  and  the  two  Marga- 
rets got  down  into  the  cabin  to  play  "  keep- 
house."  The  ladies  seated  themselves  on 
the  wooden  seats  that  ran  along  "  Noko- 
mis's"  sides.  Billy,  being  set  down  on 
the  floor  of  the  cockpit,  crept  swiftly 
toward  a  box  full  of  pebbles  which  was 
kept  under  one  of  the  benches.  Billy  re- 
membered that  it  was  great  fun  to  gather 
handfuls  of  pebbles  and  fling  them  on  the 
floor.  The  little  stones  made  a  fine  noise 
and  a  splendid  mess  as  they  rolled  about. 

Before  the  people  were  settled,  "  No- 
komis"  had  left  her  moorings,  and  with 

79 


THE  LITTLE  HOUSE  IN  THE  WOODS 

Uncle  Ned  at  the  tiller  guiding  her,  she 
was  skimming  merrily  over  the  waves. 

Ah,  that  was  a  beautiful  way  to  ride ! 
Dorothy  and  the  Margarets  were  so  busy 
playing  in  the  close  little  cabin  that  they 
did  not  notice,  but  the  other  people  drew 
in  long  breaths  of  the  pure,  cool  air  that 
blew  on  their  faces.  The  sky  was  so 
blue,  so  blue.  The  water  was  bluer  than 
the  sky,  and  it  was  all  sparkles  in  the 
sunshine.  The  waves  were  just  high 
enough  to  make  "Nokomis"  ride  up  and 
down  with  a  motion  that  all  these  peo- 
ple loved,  but  they  weren't  high  enough 
to  frighten  any  one.  Now  and  then,  as 
the  prow  of  " Nokomis"  cut  through  the 
water,  the  spray  dashed  over  Frances  and 
Ruth,  wetting  them  like  a  rain-shower, 
but  the  girls  didn't  mind  a  bit,  because 
the  sun  and  wind  dried  them  so  quickly. 

Lovely  seagulls  wheeled  about  in  the 
blue  above  or  swooped  down  to  float 

80 


SKIMMING  MERRILY  OVER  THE  WAVES 


THE  SAIL  IN  NOKOMIS 

awhile  on  the  blue  waters.  Wherever  one 
looked,  toward  land  or  sea  or  sky,  one 
saw  loveliness  and  felt  happy  for  the 
beauty  God  had  given. 

After  a  while  the  little  girls  climbed  out 
of  the  cabin,  remembering  to  stoop  so  as 
not  to  bump  their  heads  in  the  low  door- 
way. "Nokomis"  was  just  drawing  near 
to  Mogginag  Lighthouse. 

"See,  Dorothy,  "said  her  mother.  "Do 
you  remember  the  lighthouse?  In  the 
top  of  that  tower  the  lighthouse  keeper, 
every  night,  lights  a  huge  lamp.  The 
light  shines  out  over  the  water  and  says 
to  the  sailors,  '  Don't  come  near  me, 
for  I  am  standing  on  a  rock  that  will  dash 
your  ship  to  pieces  if  you  run  against 

it; 

Dorothy  looked  with  great  interest  at 
the  lighthouse. 

"  Does  he  light  the  lamp  every  single 
night?"  she  asked. 

81 


THE  LITTLE  HOUSE  IN  THE  WOODS 

"  Every  single  night,  summer  and  win- 
ter, rainy  or  snowy,  or  foggy  or  clear," 
said  Mother.  "  If  the  keeper  neglected  his 
duty  even  one  night,  it  might  mean  that 
some  sailor  fathers  would  never  come 
home  to  their  little  children  again." 

Dorothy  thought  this  over  soberly  for 
a  minute. 

" Where  does  the  keeper  live?"  she 
asked  presently. 

"  He  lives  in  the  little  house  beside  the 
lighthouse  tower,"  answered  Mother. 

"Yes,  and  he  has  a  little  daughter, 
Dorothy,"  said  Aunt  Jessie.  "And  since 
the  keeper's  family  are  so  shut  in  by  the 
rough  weather  in  winter  and  are  so  far 
from  any  school,  our  Government  sends 
a  teacher  who  lives  with  the  lighthouse 
people  all  winter  and  (  keeps  school '  for 
one  little  pupil." 

"Doesn't  the  little  girl  ever  come  off 
the  island  ?  "  asked  Dorothy,  thinking  how 

82 


THE  SAIL  IN  NOKOMIS 

lonely  it  must  be  not  to  have  any  play- 
mates. 

"In  summer  she  does,  but  I  suppose 
for  weeks  at  a  time  in  winter  she  does  n't," 
answered  Aunt  Jessie. 

Dorothy  gazed  long  at  the  lighthouse, 
trying  to  imagine  herself  the  keeper's  lit- 
tle daughter.  She  decided  she  would 
rather  live  in  a  flat  in  the  city,  even  though 
Penobscot  Bay  was  so  beautiful. 

"Nokomis"  was  soon  leaving  Moggi- 
nag  Light  behind  and  sailing  by  shores 
where  many  cottages  showed  among  the 
trees  and  where  groups  of  "  summer  peo- 
ple "  were  playing  tennis. 

"The  people  are  too  close  together 
here,"  remarked  Mr.  Burchard. 

"Yes,  indeed,"  exclaimed  Mrs.  Sayre. 
"How  much  nicer  it  is  at  our  cove ! " 

Now  the  girls  at  the  bow  called  out :  — 

"  There 's  a  schooner  loading  at  the  ice- 
house." 

83 


THE  LITTLE  HOUSE  IN  THE  WOODS 

Dorothy  did  not  know  in  which  direc- 
tion to  look. 

"  Straight  ahead,  to  the  left,  Dorothy, " 
said  her  mother.  "  See  that  long  building 
near  the  shore  ?  That 's  an  ice-house. 
Back  inland  a  short  distance  is  a  lake 
which  freezes  in  winter.  The  men  cut 
blocks  of  ice  from  the  lake  and  store  it  in 
that  house.  They  pack  sawdust  around 
the  ice,  so  it  does  not  melt  much  even  in 
summer.  When  warm  weather  comes  and 
people  want  ice,  a  big  schooner  ties  up  to 
the  dock  and  the  ice-house  men  send 
blocks  of  ice  sliding  down  a  wooden  path- 
way into  the  hold  of  the  schooner.  And 
when  the  captain  has  all  the  ice  he  wants, 
he  bids  the  sailors  hoist  the  sails  on  those 
four  tall  masts,  and  the  great  boat  sails 
off  to  carry  ice  to  the  city  people." 

"Does  our  ice  come  from  that  ice- 
house?" asked  Dorothy. 

"I'm  afraid  not,"  said  Mother.  "It 
84 


THE  SAIL  IN  NOKOMIS 

would  be  nice  to  think  it  did,  would  n't 
it?" 

Margaret  Sayre  was  intently  watching 
the  great  cakes  of  ice  sliding  down  the 
incline  into  the  schooner.  Suddenly  she 
said :  — 

"  That's  a  funny  sliding  hill.  Where  I 
live  we  sit  on  a  wooden  sled  and  slide 
down  an  icy  hill.  Here  the  sleds  are 
made  of  ice  and  the  hill  is  of  wood  !  " 

Every  one  laughed. 

"  That  sounds  like  the  land  of  the  Up- 
sidedownians,"  said  Miss  Hart. 

Miss  Hart  was  thinking  of  a  story  in 
which  the  people  did  everything  just  the 
opposite  of  the  way  we  do  things  in  real 
life.  Of  course  Dorothy  was  eager  to  hear 
the  story,  so  Miss  Hart  told  it. 

"Oh,  Mother,  will  you  get  me  that 
story?"  she  begged. 

"Yes,  if  Miss  Hart  will  tell  us  where 
to  find  it,"  answered  Mother. 

85 


THE  LITTLE  HOUSE  IN  THE  WOODS 

So  Miss  Hart  said  the  story  was  in  a 
book  called  "  Short  Stories  for  Short 
People."  She  told  the  children  another 
funny  story  from  the  book,  about  a  boy 
who  planted  a  squash  seed  which  grew 
so  fast  that  one  of  the  squashes  ran  away 
with  the  boy  on  top  of  it,  traveling  as  fast 
as  an  express  train. 

How  the  little  girls  laughed  at  that 
funny  way  of  traveling. 

"  I  'd  be  willing  to  run  a  race  with  that 
squash  to-day,"  said  Uncle  Ned.  "  Here 
we  are  at  Nugentville  in  just  forty  min- 
utes from  the  starting-point." 

"  Good  old  '  Nokomis  ' !  "  said  Mr. 
Sayre ;  and  the  little  girls  patted  the  sail- 
boat as  if  she  had  been  a  live  thing  that 
could  appreciate  the  loving. 

Now  Uncle  Ned  steered  "  Nokomis" 
up  to  the  dock  where  Uncle  James  and 
Mr.  Burchard  jumped  out  and  made  her 
fast.  Then  the  men  helped  the  ladies  and 

86 


THE  SAIL  IN  NOKOMIS 

the  youngest  girls  out  of  the  boat,  but 
Frances  and  Ruth  and  Margaret  Fair- 
field  were  already  climbing  the  ladder 
from  the  float  to  the  pier.  It  was  low  tide 
now,  and  this  meant  that  the  float  on 
which  they  landed  was  much  lower  than 
the  pier,  so  every  one  would  have  to  climb 
the  ladder.  Dorothy  was  afraid  to  try  it, 
but  the  ladder  rounds  were  close  together, 
so  Father  said :  — 

"You  can  do  it,  Dorothy.  I  will  stay 
close  behind  you  and  keep  hold  of  you, 
but  you  don't  want  me  to  carry  you  up. 
You  want  to  learn  to  be  nimble  and  fear- 
less like  Frances." 

By  the  time  Dorothy  and  all  the  grown 
people  had  climbed  the  ladder  most  of 
the  children  were  a  long  way  ahead  on 
the  road  to  Nugentville.  Uncle  James 
laughed  softly. 

"  Making  a  bee-line  for  ice-cream,"  he 
said. 

87 


THE  LITTLE  HOUSE  IN  THE  WOODS 

Sure  enough,  when  the  rest  of  the  peo- 
ple reached  the  village  they  found  the 
girls  already  seated  at  the  little  tables  in 
the  ice-cream  shop.  Uncle  James  pre- 
tended to  be  very  much  surprised. 

"Why,  you  kiddies  don't  expect  any 
ice-cream  to-day,  do  you?"  said  he. 

"  Oh,  no !  Oh,  no  !  "  sang  out  the  girls 
merrily.  "  We  never  have  ice-cream  at 
Nugentville ! " 

"If you  don't  want  any,  Uncle  James, 
I  '11  eat  your  share,"  offered  Margaret 
Fairfield  politely. 

The  men  laughed  at  this,  for  every  one 
knew  that  Uncle  James  liked  ice-cream 
as  much  as  the  little  girls  did. 

Soon  each  person  was  eating  his  or  her 
favorite  kind  of  delicious  cream.  Doro- 
thy thought  no  city  cream  had  ever  tasted 
so  good  as  this.  She  ate  slowly  to  make 
it  last  as  long  as  possible. 

When  the  last  spoonful  had  disappeared 
88 


THE  SAIL  IN  NOKOMIS 

they  all  strolled  along  the  village  street 
making  purchases  at  the  stores.  Aunt 
Jessie  bought  sneakers  for  Frances.  Aunt 
Elizabeth  bought  an  oilskin  coat  to  keep 
her  dry  in  rainy  weather.  The  other  la- 
dies hunted  pretty  picture  post-cards  to 
send  to  their  friends.  The  fathers  found 
a  hardware  shop  where  they  bought  some- 
thing needed  for  "  George/' 

After  a  while  the  purchases  were  all 
made  and  the  company  started  back 
toward  "  Nokomis." 

When  all  were  aboard,  as  Uncle  James 
took  the  tiller,  he  said  :  — 

"We  shan't  beat  the  quick-running 
squash  on  this  trip.  The  wind  is  in  the 
wrong  direction." 

Although  it  took  a  long  time  to  sail 
home  the  trip  was  so  interesting  that  no 
one  grew  tired.  There  were  many  white- 
winged  sailboats  skimming  over  the  blue 
waters.  Some  of  the  boats  lay  so  far 

89 


THE  LITTLE  HOUSE  IN  THE  WOODS 

over  on  their  sides  that  Dorothy  ex- 
claimed :  — 

"  Oh,  Mother,  the  people  will  tip  out 
into  the  water!  " 

"  No,  dear,  the  men  know  how  to  man- 
age," said  Mother.  "  Pretty  soon  '  No- 
komis' may  do  that,  too,  but  Uncle  James 
will  not  let  her  go  over  too  far." 

Just  at  that  minute  Uncle  James  sang 
out:  — 

"Low  bridge!" 

Then  all  bent  their  heads  low  while 
the  heavy  boom,  to  which  the  bottom  of 
the  sail  is  fastened,  swung  over  to  the 
other  side  of  "  Nokomis."  Then  Doro- 
thy found  herself  sliding  down  "  Noko- 
mis's  "  floor,  about  as  the  ice-cakes  slid 
down  their  incline.  Mother  laughed. 

"Now,  Dorothy,  '  Nokomis '  is  doing 
what  you  saw  the  other  sailboats  do." 

Dorothy  did  not  exactly  like  this  kind 
of  a  slide,  but  she  knew  Father  wanted  his 

90 


THE  SAIL  IN  NOKOMIS 

little  daughter  to  be  as  brave  as  a  boy,  so 
she  did  not  fuss  about  it. 

Next  the  children  spied  the  steamer 
"  Anna  Belle  "  coming  toward  them. 

"  Oh,  Daddy,  please  blow  the  horn," 
begged  Margaret  Fairfield. 

So  Uncle  Ned  got  the  tin  horn  which 
was  kept  in  the  cabin  and  blew  three  long 
blasts  in  salute  to  the  "Anna  Belle." 
Much  to  the  children's  delight,  the  cap- 
tain of  the  "Anna  Belle"  saluted  "No- 
komis  "  in  return,  making  the  steamer's 
big  horn  give  three  long,  deep  "toots." 

"That's  the  way  boats  bow  to  each 
other  as  they  pass,  Dorothy,"  Father 
explained.  "  But  some  of  the  big  boats 
are  n't  as  polite  as  the  'Anna  Belle'  about 
returning  the  salute  of  the  little  boats." 

Dorothy  was  deeply  interested.  All  of 
the  ways  of  the  boats  and  the  water 
seemed  interesting  to  her.  Last  summer 
she  had  been  such  a  little  girl  that  she 


THE  LITTLE  HOUSE  IN  THE  WOODS 

had  forgotten  many  things  this  year,  but 
she  was  fast  recalling  them. 

As  they  passed  the  ice-house  they  found 
the  great  schooner  was  no  longer  at  the 
dock. 

"She  must  have  been  taking  her  last 
cakes  of  ice  aboard  as  we  passed,"  said 
Mr.  Burchard.  "Ah,  there  she  is  out  be- 
yond Mogginag  Light!  " 

Ah,  that  was  a  beautiful  picture,  the 
great  four-masted  schooner,  with  all  sails 
set  showing  against  the  dark  green  coast- 
line and  the  blue  sky. 

"  How  commonplace  a  steamboat  looks 
compared  with  that  thing  of  beauty,"  said 
Aunt  Jessie. 

Every  one  agreed,  and  all  kept  their 
eyes  on  the  stately  vessel  until  she  rounded 
an  arm  of  land  which  hid  her  from  view. 

Next  Uncle  Ned  began  to  sing  one  of 
his  funny  songs.  Uncle  Ned  knew  a  great 
many,  and  Dorothy  laughed  so  hard  she 

92 


THE  SAIL  IN  NOKOMIS 

nearly  fell  down,  at  the  one  about  the  ka- 
tydid who  could  "  play  the  fiddle  with  her 
left  hind  leg,"  and  about  the  animals  going 
into  the  ark.  Then  all  the  people  began :  — 

"  What  shall  I  get  the  water  in, 

Lieber  Heidrich,  lieber  Heidrich  ? 
In  a  jug,  liebe,  Hebe  Lisa, 
Liebe  Lisa,  in  a  jug !  " 

When  they  stopped  singing  this  song 

-they  did  not  finish  it,  because  this  was 

a  ridiculous  song  that  kept  going  on  and 

on  and  never  was  finished  —  Ruth  Hopper 

said :  — 

"  Liebe  Lisa  must  have  been  some  re- 
lation to  'The  Three  Sillies,'  she  had  so 
little  sense." 

"And  to  the  Peterkins,"  said  Aunt 
Jessie. 

"And  to  'Paminondas,"  said  Frances. 

"And  to  me  when  I  get  aboard  'No- 
komis '  or  a  small  boat,"  said  Miss  Hart. 

They  all  laughed  at  this.  Miss  Hart 
93 


THE  LITTLE  HOUSE  IN  THE  WOODS 

was  such  a  city  person  that  she  had  n't 
yet  become  used  to  boats. 

Once  when  the  Misses  Hart  were  spend- 
ing the  evening  at  Aunt  Jessie's,  Uncle 
Ned  was  doing  all  sorts  of  stunts  that 
made  the  family  laugh.  Miss  Hart  and 
Uncle  Ned  were  great  friends,  but  they 
loved  to  play  jokes  on  each  other.  This 
evening  Uncle  Ned  said:  — 

"I  will  now  impersonate  Miss  Hart 
getting  aboard  'Nokomis." 

He  then  pushed  two  rocking-chairs 
together.  One  chair  was  a  rowboat  and 
the  other  was  "Nokomis."  Uncle  Ned 
then  climbed  up  on  the  rowboat,  making 
it  rock  so  that  he  wobbled  and  flung  him- 
self about  as  if  he  were  going  to  fall  into 
the  water.  Then  he  clambered  awkwardly 
over  into  the  rocking-chair  "Nokomis," 
waving  his  arms  wildly,  and  finally  tum- 
bling heavily  into  the  seat,  where  he  drew 
a  loud  breath  of  relief.  Miss  Hart  laughed 

94 


THE  SAIL  IN  NOKOMIS 

harder  than  anybody  else  at  naughty  Un- 
cle Ned's  nonsense. 

After  the  songs  they  played  "  The  Min- 
ister's Cat."  Frances  began:  — 

"  The  Minister's  cat  is  an  Angry  cat." 

Then  the  others  had  to  say  something 
else  about  the  cat,  something  that  began 
with  "A." 

Ruth  said,  "The  Minister's  cat  is  an 
Amiable  cat." 

Margaret  said,  "The  Minister's  cat  is 
an  Awful  cat." 

So  the  game  went  on.  Dorothy  had  to 
be  helped  by  Mother  in  this  game  until 
they  came  to  the  C's.  Then,  after  she  had 
heard  the  others  say,  — 

"  The  Minister's  cat  is  a  Cranky  cat "  ; 

"The  Minister's  cat  is  a  Clever  cat"; 

" The  Minister's  cat  is  a  Curious  cat"; 

"The  Minister's  cat  is  a  Curly  cat"; 
she  cried :  — 

* '  You  need  n't  help  me  this  time,  Mother. 
95 


THE  LITTLE  HOUSE  IN  THE  WOODS 

I  know  one.  The  Minister's  cat  is  a  Kitch- 
en cat!" 

And  she  could  n't  think  why  all  the  peo- 
ple laughed.  Do  you  know  why? 

Now  "Nokomis"  was  drawing  near 
home.  Uncle  James  guided  her  skillfully 
up  to  her  moorings.  Dorothy's  father  stood 
on  the  deck,  boat-hook  in  hand,  ready  to 
catch  the  mooring-rope  just  in  time. 
Uncle  Ned  let  down  the  sail  and  some  of 
the  ladies  found  the  little  pieces  of  rope 
called  " stops"  with  which  they  tied  the 
sail  in  a  sort  of  bundle  along  the  boom. 
They  called  this  furling  the  sail. 

While  the  sail  was  being  furled,  Mr. 
Burchard  was  rowing  a  boatful  of  people 
to  the  pier  and  coming  back  for  another 
load.  Dorothy  went  ashore  in  the  second 
boat.  As  Mr.  Burchard  rowed  near  the 
the  landing  Aunt  Elizabeth  called  out :  — 

"Way  enough!" 

So  Mr.  Burchard  backed  water  with  his 
96 


THE  SAIL  IN  NOKOMIS 

oars  and  stopped  the  boat  at  the  float. 
Then  they  all  stepped  out.  They  climbed 
the  teetery  runway  to  the  top  of  the  rocks, 
and  there  they  were  at  Dorothy's  little 
house  in  the  woods. 

Then  everybody  said  what  a  beautiful 
sail  it  had  been,  and  they  thanked  Uncle 
Ned  and  Uncle  James.  And  then  some 
of  the  people  went  up  through  the  woods 
to  Cedar  Hill  Farm,  and  Uncle  Ned's 
family  crunched  across  the  beach  to  the 
red  bungalow,  and  Uncle  James's  family 
crossed  the  little  bridge  to  their  island. 

And  so  ended  another  happy  day  in 
Maine. 


Chapter 


THE  WALK  TO  THE  VILLAGE 


CHAPTER  V 

THE  WALK  TO  THE  VILLAGE 

A  FEW  days  after  the  sail  in  "  Noko- 
mis,"  Mother  said  :  — 

"  I  must  go  up  to  the  village  to-day  to 
get  a  few  things  at  Mr.  Gifford's  store  and 
mail  some  letters  at  the  post-office." 

"  Shan't  I  do  the  errands  for  you  ?  "  said 
Father. 

"No,  thank  you,"  Mother  answered. 
"  I  Jd  like  the  walk  and  I  have  n't  seen  the 
Giffords  yet." 

"  May  I  go  with  you,  Mother?"  asked 
Dorothy. 

"Yes,  dear.  I  don't  think  the  walk  is 
too  long  for  such  a  country  girl  as  you  are 


now." 


Dorothy  laughed  gleefully. 
"I  like  being  a  country  girl  lots  better 
than  being  a  city  girl,  don't  you,  Mother  ?  " 

101 


LiTTLE  HOUSE  IN  THE  WOODS 

"Yes,  indeed!  "  was  Mother's  reply. 

Soon  Dorothy  and  her  mother  were  on 
their  way  up  through  the  woods.  As  they 
reached  the  road  that  led  to  the  village, 
they  spied  the  two  Margarets  standing 
by  the  duck  pond  talking  to  Mrs.  Jemima 
Puddleduck  and  Mr.  Jeremy  Fisher. 

"  Hello,  Margarets,"  sangout  Dorothy. 
"  We  are  going  to  the  village." 

"Oh,  we'll  go  with  you  I"  exclaimed 
the  Margarets. 

Just  then  Miss  Grace  Hart  came  down 
the  path  from  the  farmhouse  carrying  a 
handful  of  letters. 

"  May  I  join  the  party,  too?  "  she  said. 
"  I  have  letters  to  mail  for  the  whole  house- 
hold." 

Then  they  all  started  up  the  winding 
road  toward  the  tiny  village  on  the  hilltop 
a  mile  away. 

How  different  this  was  from  city  walk- 
ing !  In  place  of  rows  of  tall  houses  on 

1 02 


THE  WALK  TO  THE  VILLAGE 

both  sides  of  the  road  there  were  trees 
and  flowers  and  waving  grass.  Instead 
of  noisy  trolley-cars  and  motor-horns, 
and  the  clatter  of  wagon  wheels  on  pave- 
ments, there  were  bird  songs,  and  soft 
breezes  rustling  the  leaves,  and  the  hum 
of  insects.  The  road  was  not  straight  and 
flat  like  most  city  streets.  It  wound  in 
pretty  turns.  It  climbed  little  hills  and 
dipped  down  into  little  valleys. 

When  Dorothy  and  the  others  were  on 
top  of  the  first  little  hill,  they  turned  and 
looked  back  over  the  blue  waters  of  the 
Bay.  The  air  was  deliciously  cool  up 
here.  When  they  went  down  into  the 
little  valley,  it  was  quite  hot  because  the 
breezes  from  the  Bay  liked  best  to  stay 
on  the  hilltops. 

Suddenly  Margaret  Say  re  exclaimed : — 

"Why,  there's  the  kitten  following 
us!" 

"Oh,  do  you  suppose  he  remembers 
103 


THE  LITTLE  HOUSE  IN  THE  WOODS 

that  he  came  from  the  Giffords'  so  he 
wants  to  go  back  to  them?"  said  Mar- 
garet Fairfield. 

"I  hardly  think  that/'  said  Mother, 
"  because  he  came  down  from  the  Giffords' 
in  a  covered  basket.  But  he  ought  not  to 
be  here.  The  walk  is  too  long  and  hot  for 
such  a  little  fellow." 

"  We  have  n't  time  to  take  him  back  to 
Mrs.  Sumner's  and  then  catch  the  mail," 
said  Miss  Grace.  "I'll  carry  him  if  he 
gets  tired." 

At  first  kitty  frisked  and  romped  along 
in  lively  spirits,  but  soon  Miss  Grace 
noticed  that  he  was  panting  with  the  heat 
and  the  climb,  so  she  picked  him  up  and 
gave  him  a  ride. 

"  I  want  to  carry  the  kitty,  too,"  begged 
Dorothy. 

"  Very  well,  you  're  quite  welcome  to," 
said  Miss  Grace,  laughing.  "You'll  find 
he  grows  heavier  by  the  minute." 

104 


THE  WALK  TO  THE  VILLAGE 

Kitty  quite  enjoyed  his  rides,  first  with 
one  and  then  with  another.  Every  now 
and  then  he  would  scramble  out  of  the 
girls'  arms  and  skip  along  the  road,  chas- 
ing butterflies  and  playing  with  the  wav- 
ing grass,  but  always  he  was  glad  to  be 
picked  up  again. 

"  Oh,  see,  there  's  a  garter  snake  ! "  said 
Margaret  Fairfield  presently. 

"Oh,  where?"  exclaimed  Miss  Grace 
with  a  little  jump.  She  did  not  like 
snakes. 

"There,  on  the  side  of  the  road,"  said 
Margaret.  "  He  won't  hurt  you  a  bit,  Miss 
Grace.  Garter  snakes  are  n't  poisonous, 
and  they  are  good  for  the  garden.  They 
eat  the  insects  that  hurt  the  vegetables." 

The  girls  stood  watching  the  little 
brown  snake,  as  he  wriggled  frantically  to 
hide  himself  in  the  grass  from  these  dread- 
ful giant  people. 

The  next  interesting  sight  was  a  pretty 
105 


THE  LITTLE  HOUSE  IN  THE  WOODS 

little  striped  creature  leaping  along  the 
stone  wall. 

"Oh,  Mother,  what  is  that?"  Dorothy 
cried. 

"That's  a  chipmunk,"  said  Mother. 
"  He  is  a  cousin  of  the  squirrels  that  you 
feed  in  the  Park.  He  is  smaller  than  the 
gray  squirrels  and  he  has  n't  such  a  bushy 
tail,  but  he  likes  nuts  just  as  well  and  he 
chatters  and  scolds  just  like  the  squirrels 
when  they  are  naughty." 

"Will  the  chipmunk  let  me  feed  him  ?" 
asked  Dorothy. 

"  No,  he  is  not  tame  like  the  Park  squir- 
rels," answered  Mother. 

Although  the  chipmunk  was  not  tame 
enough  to  come  close  to  the  people,  he 
was  not  very  frightened  either.  He  sat 
on  the  wall  looking  with  his  bright  eyes 
at  these  big  two-legged  creatures  as  if 
he  were  quite  curious  to  know  all  about 
them. 

1 06 


"WILL  THE  CHIPMUNK  LET  ME  FEED  HIM? 


THE  WALK  TO  THE  VILLAGE 

Now  the  road  dipped  steeply  down  into 
a  deep  hollow.  Here  the  sound  of  a  wa- 
terfall could  be  heard. 

When  they  reached  the  foot  of  the  hill 
the  girls  took  Dorothy  close  to  the  fence 
at  the  roadside  and  there  they  looked 
down  upon  a  beautiful  stream  of  water 
rushing  and  tumbling  down  the  rocks  on 
its  way  to  the  Bay.  The  rocks  were  cov- 
ered with  glossy  green  moss  which  was 
always  wet  with  bright  drops  from  the 
dashing  water. 

How  cool  the  water  looked  under  the 
shadows  of  the  birch  trees.  It  made  Doro- 
thy feel  thirsty  to  see  the  sparkling  water, 
but  it  would  not  have  been  safe  for  a  lit- 
tle girl  to  climb  down  the  steep  rocks  to 
get  a  drink. 

11  See  how  those  birch  trees  have  been 
girdled,"  said  Mother  to  Miss  Grace. 
"  Is  n't  it  a  shame  for  people  to  be  so 
thoughtless  i " 

107 


THE  LITTLE  HOUSE  IN  THE  WOODS 

"  Indeed  it  is,"  said  Miss  Grace.  "  I 
suppose  a  good  deal  of  that  is  due  to  ig- 
norance, though." 

"  We  mean,  Dorothy,"  explained 
Mother,  "that  one  should  never  cut 
around  a  tree,  as  some  people  have  done 
in  order  to  get  strips  of  bark  from  those 
birches.  Cutting  around  the  tree,  or  'gir- 
dling' it,  may  kill  the  beautiful  thing." 

"We  never  do  that,"  said  Margaret 
Fairfield.  "  We  strip  the  bark  from  fallen 
logs,  not  from  live  trees.  You  ought  to 
see,  Dorothy,  the  pretty  things  we  make 
from  birch  bark  —  baskets,  and  flower- 
holders,  and  napkin  rings,  and  lots  of 
other  things." 

"Will  you  show  me  when  we  get 
home?"  asked  Dorothy  eagerly. 

"Yes,  we  will,"  said  Margaret. 

Just  then  they  heard  a  quick  "  tap-tap- 
tap-tap." 

"Ah,  there's  a  woodpecker  and  he's 
108 


THE  WALK  TO  THE  VILLAGE 

quite  near,"  said  Mother  softly.  "  Let's 
not  make  a  noise  and  perhaps  we  can  see 
him." 

All  stood  very  still,  peering  into  the 
woods. 

"I  see  him!  On  that  old  tree,"  whis- 
pered Margaret  Sayre,  pointing. 

There  was  the  little  fellow,  in  his  black- 
and-white  coat  and  red  cap,  clinging  with 
his  strong  little  claws  to  the  tree-trunk, 
and  hammering  rapidly  with  his  bill  on 
the  bark  of  the  tree. 

"Why  does  he  do  that,  Mother?" 
asked  Dorothy  in  a  whisper. 

"  He  knows  that  that  old  tree  is  likely 
to  have  grubs  and  insects  under  its  bark. 
He  is  hammering  to  make  a  hole  in  the 
bark  so  as  to  get  a  feast." 

The  woodpecker  kept  hard  at  work, 
not  minding  the  people  even  though  he 
saw  they  were  quite  near. 

"The  wood  creatures  aren't  so  timid 
109 


THE  LITTLE  HOUSE  IN  THE  WOODS 

up  here  as  they  are  in  some  places/*  said 
Miss  Grace. 

"No,"  said  Mother.  "They  are  never 
abused,  so  they  are  n't  suspicious  of  hu- 
mans." 

"  I  think  I  'd  better  not  linger  or  I'll 
miss  the  postman  after  all/'  then  said 
Miss  Grace. 

So  they  started  on  again. 

As  they  climbed  out  of  the  hollow  they 
saw  the  village  perched  on  the  top  of  the 
next  hill.  Such  a  tiny  village  it  was! 
There  were  just  four  houses  and  a  church 
to  be  seen.  One  house  was  Mr.  Gifford's 
and  his  store  was  in  a  part  of  his  house. 
Another  house  had  the  post-office  in  a 
part  of  it. 

"  Oh,  I  remember  the  church,  Mother," 
cried  Dorothy. 

"Do  you?"  said  Mother.  "It's  a 
pretty  little  church,  and  the  view  from  its 
porch  is  lovely  enough  for  Heaven  itself." 

no 


THE  WALK  TO  THE  VILLAGE 

"Are  services  held  there  during  the 
summer?"  asked  Miss  Grace. 

"Yes,"  answered  Mother.  "  Most  of 
the  preaching  is  done  by  the  men  of  our 
party.  Mr.  Burchard  and  the  Mr.  Fair- 
fields  take  turns,  and  sometimes  the 
minister  from  Bock's  Harbor  comes 
over." 

"  Mr.  Burchard  always  preaches  a  chil- 
dren's sermon,  too,"  said  Margaret  Fair- 
field.  "  He  tells  nice  stories." 

Every  one  was  glad  to  get  to  the  shade 
of  Mr.  Gifford's  piazza.  As  they  went 
into  the  store  Mrs.  Gifford  came  from  the 
house  rooms  to  wait  upon  them.  Mrs. 
Gifford  was  glad  to  see  Dorothy  and  her 
mother  again.  She  thought  Dorothy  had 
grown  tall  since  last  summer. 

"Where  are  your  children,  Mrs.  Gif- 
ford?" asked  Mother. 

"  Richard  is  out  helping  his  father  and 
Eleanor  is  visiting  in  Belfast,"  said  Mrs. 

in 


THE  LITTLE  HOUSE  IN  THE  WOODS 

Gifford.  "  Ferdy  and  Elizabeth  are  play- 
ing somewhere  about/' 

Then  Mother  explained  about  the  kit- 
ten, and  Mrs.  Gifford  offered  to  carry 
him  back  in  the  wagon  later  on,  because 
Mother  and  the  rest  would  have  pack- 
ages to  carry  home. 

While  Mother  was  talking  and  buying 
things,  Dorothy  looked  about  the  store 
with  interest.  It  was  n't  a  large  store,  but 
you  could  buy  almost  anything  Lfrom  it. 
There  were  rakes  and  bananas  and  shirts 
and  candy  and  buttons  and  post-cards 
and  hats  and  ink  and  lamps  and  thread 
and  oil,  and  more  things  than  Dorothy 
could  have  counted  in  a  week. 

On  the  way  home  Dorothy  noticed 
something  that  she  had  not  seen  on  the 
walk  up  to  the  village. 

"Oh,  Mother!  Mother!"  she  cried. 
"See  those  beautiful  roses!  Oh,  may  I 
pick  some?" 

112 


THE  WALK  TO  THE  VILLAGE 

1 '  Yes,  dear, ' '  said  Mother.  ' '  The  flowers 
that  grow  on  the  roadside  are  free  to  all. 
I  have  a  little  pair  of  scissors  that  I  al- 
ways carry  for  just  such  a  need.  Cut  the 
stems  and  that  will  save  you  from  getting 
pricked  with  the  thorns/' 

Then  Mother  showed  Dorothy  how 
to  cut  long  stems  and  not  to  tear  off  the 
pretty  leaves  that  belong  with  the  flowers. 

Miss  Grace  picked  a  bouquet  for  her 
room,  too. 

"  I  never  saw  wild  roses  of  such  a  deep 
pink  as  these,"  Miss  Grace  said. 

"  Are  n't  they  wonderful?"  said  Mother. 
"  Did  you  know  that  the  wild  roses  gave 
the  name  to  this  place?  When  the  first 
French  settlers  came  to  these  shores  two 
hundred  and  fifty  years  ago,  they  landed 
in  wild-rose  time,  and  they  were  evidently 
so  impressed  with  the  beauty  of  the  dears 
that  they  gave  the  place  a  pretty  French 
name  which  meant  'The  Point  of  the 


THE  LITTLE  HOUSE  IN  THE  WOODS 

Roses/  The  English  settlers  who  came 
later  could  not  pronounce  the  French  name 
properly  so  it  became  Point  Rozyer  as  we 
have  it  to-day.'* 

Dorothy  liked  the  name  very  much. 
She  picked  a  great  many  flowers,  but  she 
was  glad  to  have  Mother  carry  them  for 
her.  She  seemed  to  need  both  hands  as 
well  as  both  feet  to  enjoy  walking  and 
playing ! 

When  they  were  part- way  home  Mar- 
garet Fairfield  exclaimed :  — 

"Oh,  this  is  the  place  where  the  trail 
to  the  boys'  camp  begins.  Let's  steal  up 
and  surprise  them." 

Dorothy  had  not  noticed  any  path,  but 
Margaret  pointed  out  bent  grass  and  a 
broken  branch  among  the  growing  things 
on  one  side  of  the  road. 

"The  boys  turn  in  here,"  Margaret 
said,  "and  plunge  into  the  woods.  They 
are  pretty  careful  not  to  cut  and  break 

114 


THE  WALK  TO  THE  VILLAGE 

things  so  people  won't  follow  their  trail, 
but  I  know  this  is  the  place/' 

Then  they  crept,  one  by  one,  under  the 
fence  that  was  between  the  road  and  the 
woods.  In  the  woods  the  Margarets'  sharp 
eyes  noted  signs  that  showed  where  people 
had  passed.  The  two  girls  led  the  way  be- 
tween bushes,  under  low  hemlock  boughs 
which  sometimes  slapped  their  faces,  up 
mossy  rocks,  till  finally  with  a  whoop 
they  dashed  out  upon  two  tents  which 
were  almost  hidden  under  a  thick  clump 
of  spruce  and  cedar  trees. 

Arthur  and  Lincoln  sprang  out  of  a  tent, 
Arthur  brandishing  an  axe  and  Lincoln  a 
gun. 

"  Who  comes  here  ?  ' '  they  shouted,  pre- 
tending to  be  very  fierce. 

' '  H  eap  good  friends ! ' '  answered  Mother. 

"  Friends  welcome ! "  the  braves  replied, 
lowering  their  weapons  and  looking  very 
mild. 


THE  LITTLE  HOUSE  IN  THE  WOODS 

The  boys  were  really  delighted  to  show 
their  quarters. 

They  had  two  tents.  One  was  their 
sleeping-tent.  Its  floor  was  covered  with 
sweet-smelling  balsam  boughs.  Dorothy 
lay  down  upon  the  bed  and  thought 
it  was  very  nice.  The  other  tent  was  the 
cooking-tent.  Here  the  boys  had  a  tiny 
alcohol  stove.  They  could  not  have  a 
real  Indian  fire  for  fear  of  burning  up  the 
woods. 

"The  boys  had  a  pow-wow  here  be- 
fore you  came,"  said  Margaret  Fairfield. 
"They  sent  invitations  on  pieces  of  birch 
bark.  They  used  picture  writing  like  the 
Indians." 

"  Yes,  and  after  the  'eats/  "  said  Mar- 
garet Sayre,  "  Mrs.  Hopper  and  Papa 
danced  and  Mr.  James  Fairfield  drummed 
a  tune  for  them  on  a  tin  pail.  It  was  aw- 
fully funny.  Papa  is  so  tall  and  thin,  and 
Mrs.  Hopper  is  so  little,  and  they  made- 

116 


THE  WALK  TO  THE  VILLAGE 

believe  be  so  solemn  about  it  that  we 
laughed  till  we  fell  over/' 

Just  then  Arthur  said:  — 

"  Sh-h-h !  See  that  bunny  over  there  try- 
ing to  hide  himself  by  playing  'freeze'?" 

They  looked  in  the  direction  of  Arthur's 
pointing,  but  at  first  they  did  not  see  any 
bunny.  Presently  Dorothy  caught  sight 
of  the  little  fellow,  sitting  as  motionless  as 
a  statue.  This  was  just  like  the  story  of 
"  Raggylug,"  and  Dorothy  was  breathless 
with  delight. 

After  a  few  moments  some  noise  made 
bunny  jump  and  get  out  of  the  way  as  fast 
as  he  could  hop. 

"  The  squirrels  play  on  the  ridge-pole  of 
our  tent  nearly  every  night,"  said  Lincoln. 

"Do  you  sleep  here  every  night?" 
asked  Miss  Grace. 

"No,"  laughed  Arthur.  "To  tell  the 
truth  it  is  n't  as  comfortable  a  bed  as  it 
looks.  We've  tried  it  only  a  few  times." 

117 


THE  LITTLE  HOUSE  IN  THE  WOODS 

Now  Mother  said :  — 

"I  really  must  go,  but  I  am  very  glad  you 
let  us  see  your  wigwams,  oh,  brave  Chiefs. ' ' 

"Oh,  Mrs.  Rogers,  please  just  wait  till 
the  boys  show  their  spy-tree!"  begged 
Margaret  Fairfield. 

So  they  all  waited,  while  the  boys  ran 
to  a  tall  pine  near  by.  They  climbed  swiftly 
to  the  very  top  of  this  tree.  The' boys  were 
then  so  high  that  they  could  see  over  the 
tops  of  all  the  other  trees  in  that  part  of 
the  woods,  out  over  the  fields  to  the  shin- 
ing Bay. 

"I  see  Dad  and  Uncle  Jim  and  your 
father,  Dorothy,  rowing  in  from  '  Noko- 
mis,' "  called  Arthur. 

"  I  see  smoke  coming  out  of  our  chim- 
ney," called  Lincoln. 

"  Oh,  how  I  wish  I  were  up  there !  " 
exclaimed  Dorothy. 

"  Frances  climbs  the  spy-tree  as  well  as 
the  boys,"  said  Margaret  Say  re. 

118 


THE  WALK  TO  THE  VILLAGE 

"Well,  you  little  girls  will  have  to  hurry 
up  and  grow.  Then  perhaps  you  can  do 
it  some  day,"  said  Mother.  "Now  we 
really  must  go." 

So  they  all  called  good-bye  to  the  boys 
and  followed  the  trail  back  to  the  road, 
and  then  they  went  on  home  to  get  ready 
for  dinner. 


Chapter  VI 


THE  PICNIC 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE  PICNIC 

ONE  day  when  all  the  people  were 
together  in  the  dining-room  eating 
dinner,  Uncle  Ned  said:  — 

"  I  think  it 's  about  time  for  this  com- 
pany to  have  a  picnic.  What  do  the  rest 
of  you  think  about  it?" 

"  Oh,  we  think  so,  too  !  "  cried  the  chil- 
dren, and  the  grown  people  were  as  de- 
lighted as  the  children  with  the  idea. 

"All  right,"  said  Uncle  Ned.  "To- 
morrow promises  good  weather,  so  let 's 
go  to-morrow.  I  '11  make  fish  chowder 
for  my  share  of  the  grub." 

"I  '11  make  stuffed  eggs  for  my  contri- 
bution," said  Mrs.  Sayre. 

"We  '11  make  the  sandwiches,"  offered 
Miss  Hart  and  Miss  Grace. 

"I  '11  help  about  the  sandwiches,"  said 
123 


THE  LITTLE  HOUSE  IN  THE  WOODS 

Mrs.  Hopper.  "  You  '11  need  help  to  make 
enough  for  this  hungry  crowd." 

"I  have  plenty  of  doughnuts,  cookies, 
pickles,  and  olives,"  said  Mrs.  Sumner. 

So  each  family  offered  something. 

Early  next  morning  every  one  began 
to  make  ready. 

Mr.  Sayre  and  the  boys  walked  up  to 
Mr.  Gifford's  store  and  bought  eggs,  cof- 
fee, condensed  milk,  and  orange  marma- 
lade. 

Mrs.  Sayre,  in  Mrs.  Sumner's  kitchen, 
made  the  stuffed  eggs. 

Mrs.  Hopper  and  the  two  Miss  Harts 
came  down  to  Dorothy's  bungalow,  where, 
with  Mother's  help,  they  cut  the  bread 
and  spread  the  sandwiches.  Mrs.  Hopper 
made  jam  sandwiches,  Miss  Hart  made 
orange  marmalade  sandwiches,  Miss  Grace 
made  peanut  butter  sandwiches,  and 
Mother  made  some  of  plain  bread  and 
butter.  The  sandwiches,  when  finished, 

124 


THE  PICNIC 

were  wrapped  in  waxed  paper  and  each 
kind  was  packed  in  a  box  by  itself.  The 
boxes  were  then  tied  securely  with  strings. 

Uncle  Ned's  day  had  begun  earlier  than 
the  others'. 

First  he  went  out  to  his  garden  and  dug 
a  lot  of  little  new  potatoes. 

Then  he  rowed  out  to'  the  "  Bailey- 
wick,"  which  was  the  name  of  the  fisher- 
man's boat,  to  buy  fresh  fish.  Mr.  Bailey 
slept  and  ate  in  his  boat  all  summer  and 
caught  fish  to  sell. 

Next  Uncle  Ned  took  his  fish  down  on 
the  beach,  close  to  the  water,  and  cleaned 
them.  It  was  a  very  handy  place  to  clean 
fish  because  every  minute  or  two  the  lit- 
tle waves  ran  up  close  to  Uncle  Ned  as  if 
to  say,  "  Here  I  am.  Now  dip  in  your  fish 
quickly  and  I  '11  wash  it  before  I  run  back." 

Out  on  the  back  porch  of  Uncle  Ned's 
bungalow  the  girls  were  washing  the  pota- 
toes. 

125 


THE  LITTLE  HOUSE  IN  THE  WOODS 

In  Aunt  Jessie's  kitchen  Arthur  was 
cutting  thin  slices  of  pork  and  chopping 
some  onions  into  small  bits. 

The  fish  and  the  potatoes  and  the  onions 
and  the  pork  and  other  good  things  were 
going  into  the  chowder.  When  everything 
was  ready,  Uncle  Ned  was  to  cook  the 
chowder  on  Aunt  Jessie's  stove.  Then 
the  chowder  was  to  be  carried  in  the  kettle 
to  the  picnic  place,  where,  just  before  eat- 
ing, it  would  be  made  hot  over  a  fire  on 
the  beach. 

Aunt  Jessie  was  doing  a  dozen  things 
at  once  and  doing  them  all  as  easily  as 
play.  She  kept  an  eye  on  mischievous 
Billy,  answered  Arthurs  questions  about 
how  thin  to  slice  the  pork  and  how  fine  to 
chop  the  onions,  found  kettle  and  spoons 
for  Uncle  Ned,  packed  the  picnic  basket 
with  the  enamel-ware  cups,  the  coffee- 
pot, spoons,  sugar,  salt,  paper  napkins, 
wooden  plates,  matches,  can-opener,  and 

126 


THE  PICNIC 

other  necessary  things  so  likely  to  be  for- 
gotten by  some  one. 

At  last  everybody  had  finished  his  or 
her  "  stunt,"  and  the  people  were  gather- 
ing at  the  pier  carrying  boxes,  baskets, 
packages,  sweaters,  pails,  a  little  oil  stove, 
a  black  kettle,  bathing-suits,  towels,  and 
still  other  stuff  for  the  trip. 

The  float  was  nearly  covered  with  the 
things  to  be  taken  aboard  "Nokomis." 

"  Goodness!  Are  we  going  to  eat  all 
thisfood?"  exclaimed  Mrs.  Sayre.  "Why, 
there  's  enough  for  an  army! " 

"  There  won't  be  any  left,  Mrs.  Sayre," 
said  Uncle  Ned,  "and  I  '11  wager  you'll 
eat  your  full  share  of  it  after  a  sail  in  this 
air !  " 

Now  began  the  loading.  The  rowboats 
and  the  "George"  were  filled  so  full  of 
people  and  packages  that  Miss  Hart  looked 
more  doubtful  than  ever  about  stepping 
into  a  little  boat. 

127 


THE  LITTLE  HOUSE  IN  THE  WOODS 

"  It  looks  as  if  it  would  surely  tip  over 
with  one  more  person  in  it,"  she  said. 

"Oh,  no,  it  won't,  Miss  Hart,"  said 
Arthur.  "  We  could  pack  lots  more  in  it." 

" That's  a  slight  exaggeration,  Ar- 
thur," said  Aunt  Jessie.  "  But  it's  per- 
fectly safe,  really,  Miss  Hart.  The  water 
is  so  calm  this  morning." 

It  was  not  a  long  trip  to  Drake's  Point, 
the  picnic  place.  Not  all  of  the  people 
went  in  "  Nokomis."  Some  were  in  Uncle 
James's  sailboat,  the  "  Butterfly."  Lincoln 
and  Frances  were  paddling  a  canoe  with 
Ruth  as  a  passenger  in  the  middle. 

"  Is  that  Lincoln's  canoe  ?  "  asked  Dor- 
othy. 

"  No,  it  is  Mr.  Sayre's,"  said  Aunt 
Elizabeth.  "  But  Mr.  Say  re  says  it  belongs 
to  all  of  us.  Mr.  Sayre  takes  much  more 
pleasure  giving  his  possessions  away  than 
most  people  do  in  getting  theirs." 

In  a  short  time  "Nokomis"  dropped 
128 


THE  PICNIC 

anchor  near  Drake's  Point  beach.  Now 
began  the  unloading.  This  was  even  more 
of  a  task  than  loading  because  there  was  no 
pier  to  make  landing  easy.  The  men  had 
to  row  the  boats  close  up  to  the  sloping 
beach.  Then  the  person  in  the  bow  would 
spring  out  and  pull  the  boat  farther  up  on 
the  pebbles.  He  would  try  to  hold  the 
boat  steady  but  could  not  quite  keep  it 
from  wobbling,  while  the  passengers,  one 
at  a  time,  came  up  to  the  bow  and  sprang 
out  on  the  shore. 

After  all  the  people  and  all  the  baskets 
and  packages  were  landed,  the  little  boats 
were  made  fast  to  the  beach  by  placing 
heavy  rocks  on  their  ropes.  If  the  men 
had  n't  fastened  them  like  this,  after  a  while 
the  tide  would  have  carried  the  boats  out 
to  sea. 

No  sooner  had  they  landed  than  the 
girls  asked  their  mothers :  — 

"  May  we  go  in  bathing  now  ?" 
129 


THE  LITTLE  HOUSE  IN  THE  WOODS 

And  the  mothers  said :  — 

"  Yes,  you  must  go  in  before  eating  or 
not  at  all/1 

So  the  girls  found  a  place  behind  some 
thick  bushes  where  they  changed  their 
clothes  for  their  bathing-suits.  They  hung 
their  clothes  on  the  bushes  while  they  went 
into  the  water. 

While  the  girls  were  frolicking  in  the 
new  bathing-place,  the  older  people  were 
preparing  the  dinner. 

Uncle  Ned  found  a  nook  between  some 
great  rocks  where  the  wind  did  not  blow. 
He  placed  the  oil  stove  here  and  set  the 
kettle  of  chowder  on  it. 

Dorothy's  father  prepared  a  fire  for  the 
coffee-pot.  He  had  to  make  a  stove  for 
the  fire. 

First  he  built  a  little  pile  of  flat  stones. 
Then  he  made  another  pile  just  the  same 
height  a  few  inches  away  from  the  first 
one.  The  space  between  the  piles  of  stones 

130 


THE  PICNIC 

was  for  the  fire.  The  coffee-pot  was  to  set 
across  the  tops  of  the  stones  with  the  fire 
underneath  it. 

To  kindle  the  fire,  Father  found  some 
pieces  of  dry  birch  bark.  With  his  knife 
he  whittled  these  into  tiny  splinters.  When 
he  lit  a  match  the  splinters  blazed  merrily. 
Then  Father  put  on  larger  pieces  of  dry 
wood. 

Uncle  Ned  made  the  coffee  and  Miss 
Hart  helped  tend  fire  and  watch  to  take 
the  coffee  off  if  it  boiled  over.  The  tide 
was  coming  in  up  the  beach,  so  Miss 
Hart  had  to  watch  the  ocean,  as  well  as 
the  fire  and  the  coffee,  and  to  be  careful 
not  to  step  into  the  water  as  it  crept  nearer 
and  nearer  the  little  stone  stove. 

Other  people  were  taking  cups  and  plates 
and  spoons  from  the  big  basket,  opening 
olive  bottles  and  condensed-milk  cans, 
untying  the  boxes  and  packages  of  sand- 
wiches, doughnuts,  cookies,  cakes,  bana- 

131 


THE  LITTLE  HOUSE  IN  THE  WOODS 

nas,  eggs,  and  other  goodies  too  many  to 
count. 

The  dinner-table  was  the  clean  grass 
a  little  above  the  beach  where  the  fires 
were  cooking  the  dinner. 

Now  Uncle  Ned  sang  out  that  chowder 
and  coffee  were  ready.  Mr.  Sayre  beat 
two  pail  covers  together  for  a  gong  to 
call  the  children  who  were  exploring  the 
rocks  along  the  beach. 

Soon  the  feasting  began.  Ah,  what  a 
dining-room  that  was  !  The  blue  sky  was 
the  roof.  There  were  no  walls  to  shut  the 
people  in  from  views  of  the  lovely  Bay 
and  its  green  islands.  There  were  flowers 
all  about,  not  merely  flowers  in  one  little 
vase  on  the  table. 

And  as  for  the  appetites ! 

"You  don't  feel  at  all  hungry,  Mrs. 
Sayre,  do  you?"  asked  Uncle  Ned.. 

Mrs.  Sayre  laughed. 

"Well,  if  all  the  other  people  are  as 
132 


THE  PICNIC 

starved  as  I  am,  I  now  believe  that  there 
won't  be  any  food  to  carry  home,"  she 
said. 

All  the  people  declared  that  Uncle 
Ned's  'chowder  was  the  best  they  'd  ever 
tasted.  Almost  everybody  took  a  second 
cupful.  Some  of  the  men  climbed  down 
the  rocks  to  the  kitchen  on  the  beach  and 
filled  the  cups,  then  brought  them  up  to 
the  people  in  the  dining-room. 

After  the  chowder  was  all  gone,  the 
cups  were  thoroughly  washed  in  the  sea, 
then  the  grown-ups  drank  their  coffee 
from  the  cups. 

The  people  ate  and  ate  and  ate.  The 
fathers  and  mothers  laughed  and  joked 
and  enjoyed  themselves  as  if  they  were  n't 
any  older  than  their  boys  and  girls. 

Finally  all  were  satisfied  and  there  were 
still  some  doughnuts  and  cookies  left. 

"  Why,  how  is  this  ?  "  said  Mr.  Burch- 
ard.  "Mrs.  Sayre,  you  guessed  wrong/' 

133 


THE  LITTLE  HOUSE  IN  THE  WOODS 

"  Oh,  no,"  said  Aunt  Jessie ;  "  the  chil- 
dren will  be  needing  a  lunch  soon ! " 

No  one  except  Billy  felt  very  lively  for 
a  while  after  dinner.  Billy  kept  two  peo- 
ple busy  helping  him  walk  all  over  the 
picnic  table  and  beyond  it.  If  his  daddy 
or  any  of  the  uncles  were  in  his  way,  Billy 
walked  over  them. 

Presently  Uncle  Ned  began  to  sing 
"  Lord  Jeffrey  Amherst." 

All  joined  in  singing  for  Uncle  Ned's 
and  Uncle  James's  and  Mr.  Burchard's 
college.  Then  they  sang  "Boola  Boola" 
for  Mr.  Sayre's  Yale  and  "  Fair  Har- 
vard "  for  Father's  college. 

Then  Dorothy  begged  for  the  songs 
about  the  katydid  and  Lieber  Heidrich 
and  the  Ark  and  Uncle  Ned's  other  funny 
songs. 

After  the  singing  some  of  the  people 
washed  the  cups  and  spoons  and  packed 
the  baskets. 

134 


BILLY  WANTED  TO  PICK  TOO 


THE  PICNIC 

Then  Aunt  Elizabeth  said :  — 

"I  'm  going  to  fill  this  pail  with  blue- 
berries that  I  know  are  growing  over  in 
that  field." 

The  other  ladies  each  took  a  cup  and 
Aunt  Jessie  found  another  pail.  All  then 
followed  Aunt  Elizabeth  to  the  berry- 
field.  Each  person  who  hadn't  a  pail 
picked  into  a  cup,  and  when  the  cup  was 
filled,  she  poured  the  berries  into  Aunt 
Jessie's  or  Aunt  Elizabeth's  pail. 

Billy  wanted  to  pick  too.  So  Miss 
Grace  sat  beside  him  on  the  ground  and 
gave  him  her  cup.  She  picked  a  berry 
and  handed  it  to  Billy.  Billy  threw  it, 
hard,  into  the  cup,  enjoying  the  tinkling 
sound  the  berry  made  in  the  bottom  of 
the  cup.  Then  Miss  Grace  passed  an- 
other berry  to  Billy  and  he  threw  that 
into  the  cup.  Then  Miss  Grace  picked 
another  and  another  and  another  berry 
for  Billy.  Every  now  and  then  the  baby 

135 


THE  LITTLE  HOUSE  IN  THE  WOODS 

would  bend  his  curly  head  over  the  cup 
looking  with  great  delight  at  the  little 
blue  balls  rolling  around  the  bottom.  He 
was  amused  with  this  play  for  a  long,  long 
time.  If  you  had  hunted  for  Billy  in  the 
field,  though,  you  might  not  have  found 
him,  because  the  tall  grass  about  the  baby 
was  higher  than  his  red-gold  curls. 

The  little  girls,  while  the  mothers  and 
Billy  were  berrying,  were  having  a  fine 
time  on  the  rocks.  At  this  beach  there 
were  long  stretches  of  flat  ledges  as  well 
as  the  high,  uneven  rocks  they  were  used 
to  playing  among  near  their  bungalows. 

"  Oh,  let 's  choose  houses  on  the  rocks," 
cried  Margaret  Sayre. 

The  other  girls  agreed  and  at  once  began 
arranging  their  rooms.  Ruth  and  Frances 
took  Dorothy  for  their  little  girl  and  the 
two  Margarets  lived  by  themselves.  , 

Ruth  and  Frances  and  Dorothy  found 
a  splendid  house.  There  were  three  round- 

136 


THE  PICNIC 

ing  hollows  which  at  once  they  knew  were 
meant  for  beds.  There  was  a  tall  wall  of 
rock  with  what  looked  like  little  shelves 
in  its  walls,  and  near  by  was  a  low, 
square,  flat-topped  rock. 

"Oh,  here's  our  china  closet  and  din- 
ing-room table,"  cried  Ruth. 

At  once  the  girls  hunted  for  a  number 
of  saucer-like  shells  which  they  placed 
on  the  shelves  of  the  china  closet.  They 
then  set  the  table  and  ate  a  hasty  meal. 

Their  next  find  was  a  splendid  fire- 
place with  a  seat  before  it.  They  were  so 
charmed  with  their  house  by  this  time  that 
they  wanted  the  Margarets  to  see  it.  They 
called  to  the  girls  to  come  over  to  them. 

"  No,  you  come  here  first  and  see  our 
house,"  called  back  the  Margarets. 

So  Ruth  and  Frances  and  Dorothy 
went  over  to  the  other  girls. 

"Ours  isn't  a  house,  it's  a  palace!" 
said  Margaret  Fairfield  loftily. 

137 


THE  LITTLE  HOUSE  IN  THE  WOODS 

"Yes,  come  and  we'll  show  you  our 
grand  stairway  and  our  tennis  courts  and 
the  Japanese  gardens,"  said  Margaret 
Sayre. 

Then  the  Margarets  pointed  out  what 
really  looked  like  a  broad  stairway.  The 
tennis  courts  were  wide,  flat  rocks  curi- 
ously marked  with  straight,  white  lines. 
The  Japanese  gardens  were  laid  out  with 
many  pools  of  water  among  the  dry  spaces. 
In  the  pools  were  pretty  seaweed,  tiny 
snails,  shining  pebbles,  and  little  white 
barnacle  houses. 

Dorothy  always  loved  these  rock  pools. 
She  loved  to  pick  up  a  snail's  shell  when 
the  snail  was  looking  out  of  his  door,  and 
see  how  quickly  the  little  creature  would 
get  inside  and  close  and  glue  his  door  to- 
gether. She  would  watch  for  a  long  time 
the  barnacles  that  looked  so  dead  at  low 
tide  with  their  little  house  doors  shut  tight. 
Then,  when  the  waters  came  running  up 

138 


THE  PICNIC 

over  their  houses,  it  was  fun  to  see  how 
the  little  doors  would  open  and  out  would 
come  tiny  arms  reaching  to  catch  food 
from  the  water.  Sometimes  she  found  star- 
fishes among  the  seaweed,  and  sea-ur- 
chins with  spines  all  over  their  backs.  She 
thought  the  sea-urchins  must  be  a  sort  of 
cousin  to  the  spiny  porcupine  Margaret 
had  told  her  about. 

After  their  visitors  had  examined  their 
grand  home,  the  ladies  of  the  palace  called 
to  see  the  china  closet  and  the  fireplace 
of  their  neighbors.  They  liked  this  new 
house  almost  as  much  as  the  palace. 

Now  the  pails  and  cups  of  the  berry- 
pickers  were  filled  and  some  of  the  moth- 
ers were  thinking  it  was  time  for  the  littlest 
children  to  get  home.  So  the  baskets  and 
spoons  and  oil  stove  and  sweaters  and 
bathing-suits  and  towels  were  gathered  on 
the  beach  ready  to  load  into  the  boats,  but 
the  lunch-boxes  were  all  empty. 

139 


THE  LITTLE  HOUSE  IN  THE  WOODS 

"Where  are  those  doughnuts  and  cook- 
ies that  were  left  after  dinner?"  asked 
Mrs.  Sayre. 

"  Oho  I  Oho !  Did  you  think  you  'd  find 
them?"  crowed  the  boys.  "We  ate  so 
little  dinner  that  we  were  obliged  to  have 
a  lunch  this  afternoon  !  " 

Then  the  girls  wished  they  had  re- 
membered to  get  a  lunch  too. 

On  the  way  home  "  Nokomis  "  and  the 
"Butterfly"  and  the  canoe  had  a  race. 
There  was  very  little  wind  to  make  the 
sailboats  go,  so  the  canoe  with  the  boys 
in  it  won  the  race.  The  boys  had  great  fun 
teasing  their  fathers  for  not  being  able  to 
catch  up  with  them. 

How  tired  and  dirty  they  all  felt  when 
they  reached  the  little  pier !  But  every  one 
felt  just  as  Dorothy  did  when  she  ex- 
claimed :  — 

"That's  the  nicest  picnic!  ever  went 
to  in  my  life !  " 


Chapter  VII 


THE  CHRISTMAS  TREE  WOODS 


CHAPTER  VII 

THE  CHRISTMAS  TREE  WOODS 

ONE  bright  morning  Margaret  Fair- 
field  came  to  Dorothy's  little  house 
with  a  message  from  Uncle  Ned. 

4 'Every body  is  invited  to  a  beach  fire 
on  our  beach  to-night,"  Margaret  said. 

"  How  delightful!  "  exclaimed  Mother. 

Dorothy  was  very  curious  to  know 
what  a  ' '  beach  fire ' '  meant  and  she  wished 
for  night  to  come  that  minute  so  as  to  find 
out. 

"  We  sit  up  very  late  when  we  have  a 
beach  fire,"  said  Margaret. 

"  Yes,  and  little  girls  only  six  years  old 
agree  to  take  naps  in  the  afternoon  if  they 
wish  to  be  up  so  late,"  Mother  said. 

Dorothy  knew  what  Mother  meant. 
She  promised  to  try  to  sleep  that  after- 
noon. 

H3 


THE  LITTLE  HOUSE  IN  THE  WOODS 

"  What  are  you  going  to  do  this  morn- 
ing, Margaret?"  asked  Dorothy. 

"I  don't  know.  What  do  you  think 
would  be  nice?"  Margaret  answered. 

"  How  would  you  little  girls  like  to  go 
with  me  up  the  wood  road  toward  Drake's 
Point?"  asked  Mother.  "I  am  going  to  try 
to  fill  some  fern  baskets  for  the  piazza." 

"Oh,  yes,  that  would  be  fun !  "  the  little 
girls  said  eagerly. 

So  they  were  soon  on  their  way,  Mother 
carrying  a  large  basket  and  a  trowel. 

When  they  reached  the  main  road  and 
the  duck  pond,  they  did  not  turn  toward 
the  village,  but  in  the  opposite  direction. 
Very  soon  they  were  in  the  woods  that 
came  close  to  the  sides  of  the  road. 

Dorothy  always  loved  this  road.  It 
seemed  just  like  walking  in  a  story  book. 
Everywhere  she  looked  Dorothy  saw 
Christmas  trees,  up  the  hill  on  one  side 
of  the  road,  through  the  level  reaches,  on 

144 


THE  CHRISTMAS  TREE  WOODS 

the  other  side.  Ahead  the  road  made  a 
turn  so  she  could  not  see  where  it  was 
going.  She  could  see  only  Christmas 
trees.  Behind,  there  was  another  turn 
and  Christmas  trees  shut  her  in.  The 
trees  were  not  covered  with  candles,  to 
be  sure,  but  they  were  decorated  with 
little  new  branches  having  soft,  bright 
green  ends  which  one  does  not  see  when 
one  buys  Christmas  trees  for  Santa  Claus 
to  decorate. 

Along  the  roadside  flowed  a  little  brook. 
It  was  just  a  baby  brook,  and  it  slipped 
softly  over  clean  pebbles  and  smooth 
white  rocks.  Soon  it  disappeared  under 
the  road  singing  a  little  gurgling  song. 

It  was  like  fairyland  in  the  woods,  too. 
Margaret  and  Dorothy  found  the  fairies' 
tables  —  that  was  what  they  called  the 
mushrooms.  Some  of  these  tables  were 
bright  red  on  top  with  the  under  side  and 
the  leg  of  purest  white,  beautifully  carved. 

H5 


THE  LITTLE  HOUSE  IN  THE  WOODS 

Some  were  of  bright  yellow,  some  were 
like  pink  coral. 

The  moss  that  covered  the  rocks  looked 
like  forests  of  wee  fairy  trees,  and  there 
were  baby  Christmas  trees  too,  no  higher 
than  Dorothy's  hand.  The  fairies  had  left 
their  jewels  scattered  all  along  the  road- 
side, not  a  bit  afraid  that  mortals  could 
steal  their  treasures.  Ferns  and  lacy  grass 
were  spangled  and  threaded  with  pearly 
drops  prettier  than  any  hard  jewels  in  a 
city  shop. 

The  depths  of  the  woods  were  full  of 
mystery  as  Dorothy  peered  into  them, 
her  eyes  big  with  wonder.  Sometimes  it 
seemed  as  if  there  were  seas  of  bright 
green  where  the  sun  found  its  way  down 
among  the  dark  fir  trees  and  lighted  wav- 
ing masses  of  ferns. 

Margaret  and  Dorothy  helped  Mother 
find  things  for  her  basket.  With  her 
trowel  Mother  dug  up  by  the  roots  some 

146 


---] -.-{:••   ••1:  •:.•••,••.-'-     .'(          '         *     -''        K---:"'':'T       [i  «^  *!:^ — **-T       " 

-  few?  Ji  1  ;^r 


HELPED  MOTHER  FIND  THINGS  FOR  HER  BASKET 


THE  CHRISTMAS  TREE  WOODS 

perfect  little  baby  trees,  several  different 
kinds  of  moss,  the  prettiest  wee  ferns  they 
could  find,  lovely  trailing  ground-pine, 
and  other  beautiful  things. 

When  the  basket  was  filled  with  what 
Mother  wanted,  they  all  walked  back  to 
Dorothy's  bungalow.  Then  Mother  and 
the  little  girls,  working  at  the  piazza  table, 
arranged  in  pretty  birch-bark  holders 
little  make-believe  bits  of  woods. 

When  all  the  birch  baskets  were  fin- 
ished, Dorothy  thought  she  had  never 
seen  anything  so  like  fairyland.  She 
looked  and  looked  among  the  tiny  trees 
thinking  she  must  see  fairies  if  only  she' 
looked  long  enough.  But  she  did  not 
have  on  the  magic  glasses  necessary,  so 
the  fairies  kept  themselves  hidden  from 
her  eyes. 

Next  Mother  climbed  up  on  a  chair 
and  hung  one  of  the  fern -holders  on  a 
hook  fastened  to  a  post  of  the  piazza.  It 

H7 


THE  LITTLE  HOUSE  IN  THE  WOODS 

was  n't  an  ordinary  iron  hook.  It  was  a 
great  deal  prettier.  Father  had  found  on 
the  beach  some  pieces  of  driftwood,  which 
were  really  branches  that  had  once  broken 
off  from  trees  near  the  shore.  The  wind 
and  the  sea  had  cleaned  and  bleached  the 
wood  to  a  pretty  silvery  color,  and  some 
of  the  small  branches  were  shaped  a  little 
like  hooks.  Father  brought  these  home, 
nailed  one  to  each  post  of  the  piazza,  and 
there  they  had  been  waiting  for  Mother's 
lovely  fern-holders. 

Soon  a  fern  basket  was  hanging  from 
each  hook.  The  baskets  looked  very 
pretty.  Mother  said  they  would  keep 
growing  prettier,  because  she  had  put 
into  the  bottom  of  the  baskets  rich  soil 
which  the  roots  of  the  ferns  liked  to  eat  as 
much  as  little  girls  liked  bread  and  milk. 

Dorothy  and  Margaret  played  quietly 
on  Dorothy's  piazza  until  dinner-time.  In 
the  afternoon  Dorothy  tried  hard  to  take  a 

148 


THE  CHRISTMAS  TREE  WOODS 

nap  so  as  to  be  fresh  for  the  beach  fire  and 
the  sitting  up  late.  For  a  long  time  she  lay 
on  her  little  cot  bed  very  wide  awake 
thinking  about  the  beach  fire,  and  about 
the  fairy  woods,  and  about  Christmas 
Tree  Land,  and  about  the  Drake's  Point 
Picnic  —  and  about  the  baby  ducklings 
—  and  the  kittens  —  and  the  little  wind- 
mill man  waving  his  arms  in  the  wind — 
and  the  humming-birds'  wings  going  hum- 
m-m,  hum-m-m,  hum-m-m  — 

And  then  she  was  fast  asleep  dreaming 
that  she  and  the  humming-bird  and  the 
windmill  man  and  a  beautiful  fairy,  all 
pearly  spangles,  were  sitting  under  a 
Christmas  tree  eating  blueberries  from  one 
of  the  fairies'  pink  coral  tables. 

Dorothy  had  a  nice  long  nap,  so  after 
supper  Mother  let  her  go  out  to  play  with 
the  other  children.  It  would  not  be  dark 
enough  for  the  beach  fire  for  quite  a  while 
after  supper. 

149 


THE  LITTLE  HOUSE  IN  THE  WOODS 

The  children  played  hide-and-seek  in 
the  tall  grass  just  beyond  their  woods. 
The  evening  was  so  still  that  they  could 
hear  a  whisper  or  a  rustle  for  quite  a 
distance,  so  they  had  to  be  extra  careful 
not  to  get  caught.  Once  while  Dorothy  and 
Margaret  crouched  in  the  grass,  hardly 
breathing,  they  heard  the  fire  crackling 
up  in  Mr.  Sumner's  fireplace,  and  old  Mr. 
Jeremy  Fisher  saying  "Tunk  !  "  as  he  sat 
on  his  log  awhile  before  going  to  bed. 
Little  birds,  up  in  the  woods  that  made  a 
dark  fringe  against  the  pale  yellow  sky, 
were  singing  plaintive  little  good-night 
songs. 

Arthur  and  Lincoln  joined  in  the  hide- 
and-seek  game,  which  made  it  very  ex- 
citing. The  younger  girls  were  soon  tired 
enough  to  be  ready  to  stop  playing  and 
go  over  to  the  beach  where  the  people 
were  gathering. 

Now  Aunt  Jessie  told  Dorothy  how, 
150 


THE  CHRISTMAS  TREE  WOODS 

every  year,  the  "  Bungaloafers "  had  a 
beach  fire,  using  the  same  old  tree  for  a 
backlog.  She  said  that  many  years  ago, 
in  the  winter,  furious  gales  of  wind  had 
blown  down  a  huge  old  pine  tree  and  torn 
it  up  from  the  ground  by  the  roots.  Mr. 
Sumner  had  cut  away  all  the  branches 
for  firewood,  but  the  enormous  heavy  root 
stump  was  too  big  and  hard  to  pay  for 
cutting  it  up.  Another  storm  and  wind 
came  and  floated  the  great  stump  out  to 
sea  where  the  waves  gave  it  a  ride  and 
finally  brought  it  back  to  the  land  and  left 
it  on  Uncle  Ned's  beach.  Recently,  little 
storms  had  broken  off  small  trees  in  front 
of  Dorothy's  bungalow.  So  Uncle  Ned 
and  Father  had  dragged  the  small  trees 
over  to  Uncle  Ned's  beach.  They  piled 
some  of  the  little  spruce  trees  against  the 
pine-tree  stump.  Others  of  the  little  trees 
they  left  in  another  pile  a  short  distance 
away. 


THE  LITTLE  HOUSE  IN  THE  WOODS 

It  seemed  a  long  time  before  it  was 
dark  enough  to  light  the  fire,  but  little  by 
little  the  light  in  the  western  sky  faded  and 
the  faint  stars  came  out,  grew  brighter 
and  brighter,  till  at  last  the  dark  sky  was 
spangled  with  sparkling  star  jewels. 

Then  Uncle  Ned  touched  a  match  to 
the  pile  in  front  of  the  stump. 

All  the  people  sat  on  the  beach  a  little 
back  from  the  fire  because  they  knew  how 
hot  it  would  feel  on  their  faces,  but  all  sat 
where  they  could  see  the  fire  well. 

What  a  wonderful  sight  that  was  when 
the  flame  caught  and  rushed  through  the 
dry  spruce  boughs,  sending  showers  of 
sparks  like  gorgeous  fireworks  up  toward 
the  starry  sky.  Every  one  said  "Oh-h!" 
and  "Ah-h!"  and  "  How  beautiful!" 
Dorothy  thought  it  looked  like  the  lights 
in  an  Arabian  Nights'  palace. 

When  one  little  spruce  tree  was  almost 
burned  down,  Uncle  Ned  and  Father 

152 


THE  CHRISTMAS  TREE  WOODS 

dragged  from  the  other  pile  another  tree 
which  they  threw  on  the  flame.  Again 
the  flame  ran  up  the  tree  and  out  along 
its  branches,  and  again  the  starry  sparks 
flew  as  if  they  were  determined  to  reach 
their  star  brothers  up  in  the  dark  sky. 

After  a  while  Uncle  Ned  began  to 
sing.  There  was  one  song  that  all  the 
Point  Rozyer  "  Bungaloafers  "  especially 
loved.  It  was  called  "The  Song  of  the 
Rose."  It  was  a  sweet,  old-fashioned 
song  and  it  seemed  to  belong  to  this  sum- 
mer land  of  lovely  wild  roses  and  happy 
outdoor  life. 

Uncle  Ned  began :  - 

"  No  beautiful  palace  have  I  on  the  hill, 
No  picture  to  hang  in  my  hall, 
But  never  a  painter  can  match  with  his  skill 
The  roses  a-bloom  on  my  wall." 

Uncle  James's  deep  voice  joined  Uncle 
Ned's  high  tenor,  then  the  other  fathers 
and  mothers  and  the  children  joined  in 

153 


THE  LITTLE  HOUSE  IN  THE  WOODS 

and  sang  with  all  their  hearts  and  voices. 
After  "  The  Song  of  the  Rose,"  they  sang 
"  Drink  to  me  only  with  thine  eyes"  and 
"Annie  Laurie  "  and  "  The  bonny,  bonny 
banks  o'  Loch  Lomond,"  and  other  lovely 
songs.  They  did  not  care  for  the  funny 
ones  to-night.  Every  one  felt  like  having 
a  quietly  beautiful  time;  the  stars  were 
so  still  and  the  gentle  lapping  of  the 
waves  along  the  shore  sounded  so  pretty 
when  the  roaring  of  the  flames  died  down 
to  a  soft  little  singing  tune. 

The  children  after  a  while  grew  very 
sleepy,  but  they  did  not  want  to  go  in  to 
bed,  oh,  no !  and  the  mothers  did  not 
make  them  go  till  the  last  of  the  little 
spruces  was  burned.  Then  the  people 
said  good-nights  and  went  to  the  differ- 
ent houses,  humming  softly  as  they  walked 
slowly  home. 

Dorothy  was  sound  asleep  in  her  bed 
in  a  few  minutes,  but  Ruth  and  Margaret 

154 


THE  CHRISTMAS  TREE  WOODS 

Sayre  and  the  others  who  lived  at  Mr. 
Sumner's  house  told  Dorothy  next  morn- 
ing a  little  story  of  what  they  had  seen 
on  the  way  home. 

They  said  Mr.  Sayre  and  Mr.  Burch- 
ard  had  lighted  lanterns  to  help  the 
people  find  safe  footing  through  the  woods. 
As  they  reached  the  road  near  the  duck 
pond,  they  heard  a  queer  little  sound  that 
seemed  to  come  from  the  woods  on  the 
hill  back  of  Mr.  Sumner's  house.  It 
sounded  as  if  some  bird  felt  frightened 
and  lonesome  and  was  crying  for  its 
mother.  Every  time  the  bird  gave  its 
frightened  "Pe-e-p"  the  old  mother  duck 
would  answer  with  a  loud ' '  Quack,  quack ! " 

All  the  people  stopped  and  listened, 
wondering  what  it  meant.  Then  the 
"Pe-e-p"  sounded  nearer,  and  it  no 
longer  seemed  to  come  from  the  woods, 
but  from  the  road  a  little  way  off.  Then 
Margaret  Sayre  spied  a  tiny  dark  figure 

155 


THE  LITTLE  HOUSE  IN  THE  WOODS 

hurrying  along  the  road  crying  "  Pe-e-p! 
Pe-e-p!  Pe-e-p!" 

"Oh!  Oh!"  she  cried.  "It's  a  baby 
duckling!  He  wandered  away  from  his 
mother  and  got  lost,  and  it  got  so  dark 
he  did  n't  know  the  way  home.  And  then 
he  cried  and  the  old  mother  duck  '  quacks ' 
to  tell  him  to  come  toward  the  sound  of 
her  voice ! " 

Sure  enough,  the  frightened  baby  duck- 
ling was  hurrying  as  fast  as  its  waddling 
little  legs  would  carry  it  toward  mother's 
voice. 

I  suppose  that  funny  "  quack"  sounded 
as  beautiful  to  the  baby  duckling  as  Dor- 
othy's dear  mother's  lovely  voice,  sing- 
ing lullabies,  sounded  to  Dorothy. 

The  people  watched  the  little  brown 
duckling  plunge  through  the  reeds  into 
the  water  to  its  mother,  and  it  was  sweet 
to  hear  the  baby's  voice  change  from  a 
frightened  "Pe-e-p"  to  soft  little  talk 

156 


THE  CHRISTMAS  TREE  WOODS 

about  how  glad  he  was  to  feel  mother's 
breast  again.  Mother  duck  talked  softly 
to  the  baby,  too,  and  I  have  no  doubt 
she  told  the  little  fellow  never  to  wander 
so  far  from  home  again  until  he  was  older 
and  stronger. 

I  don't  believe  that  baby  duckling  ever 
forgot,  do  you? 


Chapter  VIII 


FOGGY  DAYS 


CHAPTER  VIII 

FOGGY  DAYS 

DOROTHY  had  now  lived  in  the  lit- 
tle house  in  the  woods  for  three 
weeks,  and  every  day  there  had  been 
some  new  and  lovely  thing  to  do  out  of 
doors.  Every  morning  the  sun  came  up, 
clear  and  bright,  out  of  the  blue  waters 
of  the  Bay.  All  day  long  the  sun  rode  like 
a  golden  chariot  through  clear  blue  skies. 
Every  night  the  chariot  sank  behind  the 
dark  fringe  of  trees  on  Mr.  Sumner's  hill 
leaving  behind  for  a  long  time  a  sky 
painted  with  lovely  colors. 

All  the  people  said  what  wonderful 
weather  they  were  having,  and  no  one 
stayed  in  the  house  a  minute  longer  than 
was  necessary. 

At  last  one  morning  Dorothy  woke  to 
a  different  kind  of  day.  Her  first  thought 

161 


THE  LITTLE  HOUSE  IN  THE  WOODS 

was  that  it  was  n't  daytime  at  all  because 
everything  looked  so  dark  and  gloomy. 
Then  she  heard  the  rattling  of  tins  in 
the  kitchen  and  she  knew  that  Mother 
was  up. 

Dorothy  jumped  from  bed  and  looked 
out  of  her  window.  The  trees  were  soak- 
ing, dripping  wet,  and  queerly  enough 
she  could  see  only  the  trees  close  by  her 
window.  Most  of  the  woods  seemed  to 
have  disappeared.  Dorothy  ran  into  the 
living-room  and  looked  out  of  the  win- 
dow. She  could  see  again,  the  near-by 
trees,  but  where  were  the  water  and  the 
pier  and  the  little  boats  and  "Nokomis"? 
Where  were  the  fishing-weir  and  Blue 
Mountain?  Dorothy  could  not  see  any 
of  these  familiar  sights. 

She  ran  to  Mother  and  asked :  — 
"Oh,  Mother,  is  this  a  fog?" 
"Yes,  indeed,  dear,  a  real  Maine  fog/' 
said  Mother.   "  It 's  like  a  thick  white  veil 

162 


FOGGY  DAYS 

or  cloudy  blanket  that  hides  everything 
from  us  except  what  is  close  at  hand." 

"  I  think  it 's  like  what  the  fairies  use  to 
make  things  invisible,  don't  you,  Mother  ? ' ' 
said  Dorothy. 

"So  it  is,"  said  Mother.  "  It 's  a  very, 
very  wet  veil,  though,  and  rather  cold,  so 
put  on  your  clothes,  dear.  I  left  them  by 
the  fire  to  dry  out,  for  they  were  damp- 
ened even  by  one  night  of  fog." 

Dorothy  dressed  in  front  of  the  crack- 
ling fire,  which  "felt  good"  even  though 
this  was  midsummer.  The  breakfast-table 
was  set  indoors  to-day,  not  out  on  the 
sopping  wet  piazza. 

After  breakfast  Dorothy  asked:  — 

"Must  I  stay  in  the  house,  Mother? 
May  n't  I  put  on  my  rubber  coat  and  go 
over  to  Margaret's?" 

"You  may  go  to  Margaret's  this  morn- 
ing, Dorothy,"  said  Mother,  "on  condi- 
tion that  Aunt  Jessie  lets  her  girls  come 

163 


THE  LITTLE  HOUSE  IN  THE  WOODS 

here  to  spend  the  afternoon  with  you. 
Aunt  Jessie  usually  has  all  the  children 
of  Point  Rozyer  at  her  house  and  she 
ought  to  have  a  rest  once  in  a  while.  Be 
sure  to  invite  Ruth  and  Margaret  Sayre 
for  the  afternoon,  too." 

The  morning  at  Aunt  Jessie's  was  very 
interesting.  All  the  girls  busied  themselves 
at  the  big  dining-room  table  making  things 
for  an  indoor  party  which  Frances  and 
Ruth  were  planning  to  give  some  rainy 
day.  They  planned  to  invite  all  the  grown 
people  as  well  as  all  the  children,  and  to 
have  a  present  for  each  person.  This 
meant  making  a  great  many  gifts,  and 
none  of  the  presents  were  to  be  bought 
at  a  store.  All  were  to  come  from  the 
woods  and  the  shore  and  the  waters  of 
Point  Rozyer.  The  girls  had  collected 
the  materials  and  now  that  it  was  n't  very 
pleasant  out  of  doors,  this  seemed  just 
the  morning  to  work. 

164 


FOGGY  DAYS 

Dorothy  was  delighted  with  the  lovely 
things  she  saw  the  girls  make.  She  her- 
self made  a  necklace  of  the  seeds  from  a 
kind  of  seaweed  that  clung  to  the  rocks 
all  about.  Ruth  was  making  a  pretty 
basket  from  the  sweet-grass  that  grew 
near  Uncle  Ned's  bungalow.  Frances 
made  napkin  rings  an,d  little  baskets  and 
flower-holders  of  birch  bark.  The  two 
Margarets  were  working  with  the  clay 
that  they  found  in  a  certain  spot  on  Uncle 
Ned's  beach.  They  made  candlesticks 
of  the  clay  and  little  baskets  and  vases. 
Some  of  the  vases  they  decorated  with 
rows  of  tiny  shells.  Margaret  Fairfield 
showed  Dorothy  a  clay  bowl  which  she 
had  made  last  summer.  Between  some  of 
the  cobblestones  of  the  fireplace  chimney 
were  little  shelf-like  places.  One  was  just 
large  enough  to  hold  the  clay  bowl,  and 
Aunt  Jessie  had  filled  the  bowl  with  lovely 
ground-pine  which  looked  very  pretty 

165 


THE  LITTLE  HOUSE  IN  THE  WOODS 

trailing  down  the  gray  stones  of  the 
chimney. 

The  girls  worked  busily  till  noon.  Then 
they  packed  their  materials  in  the  big  pic- 
nic basket  ready  to  carry  them  to  Doro- 
thy's house  after  dinner. 

Dorothy  now  noticed  that  the  fog  had 
turned  to  rain,  a  steady  downpour. 

Before  they  started  up  to  Cedar  Hill 
Farm  for  dinner  Mother  said :  — 

"  You  '11  need  more  than  a  rubber  coat 
to  keep  you  dry  now,  Honey.  Wait  a 
minute.  I  have  a  surprise  for  you !  " 

Dorothy  was  all  eagerness.  Mother's 
surprises  were  always  worth  while. 
Mother  went  into  her  room  and  brought 
from  it  a  pair  of  little  rubber  boots  and 
a  rubber  cap.  The  cap  had  a  stiff  brim, 
like  a  fireman's  hat,  so  that  the  rain  would 
run  off  the  brim  and  not  get  into  one's 
eyes  and  hair  and  neck. 

Dorothy  capered  about  the  room  with 
166 


FOGGY  DAYS 

delight.  Then  she  sat  on  the  floor  ready 
to  pull  on  the  rubber  boots. 

"Wait  a  minute,  dear,"  said  Mother. 
"  You  may  first  take  off  your  petticoats, 
put  on  your  serge  bloomers  and  play  you 
are  a  little  boy.  Then  you  can  tuck  the 
bloomers  into  the  boot-tops  and  walk 
through  the  high,  wet  grass  without  get- 
ting wet  at  all." 

What  fun  this  was !  Dorothy  flew  to 
get  off  her  girl  dress  and  put  on  bloomers 
and  middy.  Then  the  boots,  the  rubber 
coat,  and  the  cap  went  on,  and  she  was 
ready  for  the  wettest  weather. 

Dorothy  ran  out  of  the  house  to  enjoy 
splashing  through  the  woods.  The  first 
thing  that  happened  to  her  was  to  slip 
on  the  wet  ground  and  sit  down  hard ! 
This  was  another  surprise,  but  Dorothy 
thought  it  a  part  of  the  fun.  When  she 
clambered  up,  she  found  that  her  hands 
were  all  "  stuck  up,"  like  the  Tar-Baby's. 

167 


THE  LITTLE  HOUSE  IN  THE  WOODS 

So  Mother  said,  since  they  were  going  to 
dinner,  the  hands  must  be  washed  again. 

The  next  time  Dorothy  walked  more 
carefully,  and  she  did  not  fall  down  again, 
although  the  wet  grass  and  the  clayey 
road  made  walking  hard  work. 

On  Mr.  Sumner's  piazza  a  merry  crowd 
of  people  pulled  off  shiny  wet  rainy-day 
coats  and  rubbers  to  leave  them  out  on 
the  piazza  while  they  went  into  the  dining- 
room.  At  dinner  the  girls  gave  their  in- 
vitations for  the  party  which  was  to  be 
held  the  second  rainy  day  after  this  one 
at  Uncle  Ned's  and  Aunt  Jessie's  bun- 
galow. 

Well,  it  rained  and  it  rained  all  the  af- 
ternoon and  night.  Next  day  the  fog  hid 
the  world  in  a  white  blanket.  For  many 
days  it  rained  and  when  it  was  n't  rain- 
ing it  was  foggy.  The  trees  and  the  grass 
and  the  ground  were  soaked  through 
and  through.  Mothers  were  kept  busy 

168  ' 


FOGGY  DAYS 

drying  out  stockings  and  shoes  and  other 
clothes  before  the  blazing  logs.  All  the 
piazzas  were  decorated  with  rows  of  mud- 
caked  rubbers  and  rubber  boots.  Dor- 
othy's mother  found  mould  gathering  on 
the  brown  suitcase,  so  she  watched  things 
in  the  closet  very  carefully  after  that. 

The  girls  had  their  party  one  rainy 
afternoon.  Every  one  came  and  had  a 
splendid  time. 

First,  the  girls  acted  charades  to  enter- 
tain the  company.  One  end  of  the  long 
living-room  was  the  stage.  The  audience 
sat  in  chairs  arranged  in  rows,  as  in  a 
theater,  facing  the  stage.  The  fathers  made 
a  great  deal  of  nonsense  and  the  ladies  and 
boys  laughed  hard  at  their  jokes,  but  the 
girls  felt  too  seriously  the  responsibility  of 
entertaining  so  large  a  party  to  notice  the 
nonsense. 

One  of  the  charades  they  acted  was 
the  word  "Nokomis."  First  they  repre- 

169 


THE  LITTLE  HOUSE  IN  THE  WOODS 

sented  the  syllable  "No."  In  the  next 
scene  Frances  was  combing  Margaret 
Sayre's  hair.  For  the  third  syllable  the 
girls  played  ball  and  they  often  missed 
catching  the  ball. 

By  this  time  the  grown  people  had 
guessed  "  Nokomis,"  but  they  did  not  let 
the  girls  know  that  they  had  guessed. 
They  wanted  to  see  what  the  girls  would 
do  for  the  whole  word.  They  expected  the 
children  would  represent  sailing  in  "  No- 
komis," but  this  was  not  what  happened. 

When  the  make-believe  curtain  was 
lifted,  there  sat  Frances  under  the  dining- 
room  table.  She  was  holding  Dorothy  in 
her  lap  and  singing  to  her.  In  front  of 
Frances  and  Dorothy,  Ruth  lay  rolling 
back  and  forth  on  the  floor. 

The  grown  people  were  so  surprised  that 
for  a  minute  no  one  spoke.  Then  Uncle 
Ned  exclaimed :  — 


170 


FOGGY  DAYS 

"  By  the  shores  of  Gitche  Gumee, 

There  the  wrinkled,  old  Nokomis 
Nursed  the  little  Hiawatha  !  " 

The  grown  people  applauded  and  the 
girls  sprang  up,  looking  very  much  pleased. 

Uncle  James  said:  — 

"  Ruth,  your  representation  of  the  Big- 
Sea- Water  was  so  realistic,  I  might  have 
been  seasick  in  a  few  minutes ! " 

The  next  word  was  meant  for  "  Ocean." 
The  grown  people  had  some  difficulty 
guessing,  because  the  girls  acted  the  sec- 
ond syllable  as  though  it  had  been  spelled 
"  s-h-i-n."  One  of  the  girls  "  shinned  "  up 
the  door-jamb. 

After  the  charades  everybody  joined  in 
playing  a  game  in  which  each  person  rep- 
resented an  animal  and  had  to  make  the 
animal's  sound  quickly  at  certain  times. 
Then  the  fathers  were  so  funny  that  be- 
fore long  the  game  broke  up  in  shouts 

of  laughter. 

171 


THE  LITTLE  HOUSE  IN  THE  WOODS 

Next  the  people  were  told  to  hunt  for 
their  presents  which  were  hidden  behind 
curtains,  up  on  cross-beams,  and  in  all 
sorts  of  cubby-holes  in  the  living-room. 

How  pleased  the  people  were  with  the 
gifts  and  how  they  complimented  the  girls 
for  their  clever  work ! 

Lastly  came  the  refreshments,  pink 
lemonade,  popcorn,  and  fudge.  The  girls 
had  made  the  lemonade  and  popped  the 
corn,  but  Arthur  had  made  the  fudge  for 
them. 

After  the  refreshments  were  eaten  and 
the  party  was  breaking  up,  Mrs.  Hopper 
quickly  composed  a  little  song  in  honor 
of  the  girls,  and  the  grown  people  sang  it 
lustily,  the  girls  blushing  with  pleasure 
at  the  praise. 

Some  days  after  the  party  the  usual 
morning  fog  did  not  look  quite  so  heavy. 
Before  long  the  sun  actually  pierced 
through  the  white  veil  and  then  a  wind 

172 


FOGGY  DAYS 

came  up  and  began  to  blow  the  fog  away 
out  to  sea.  It  was  pretty  to  see  the  soft, 
white,  filmy  veil  resting  a  while  in  the 
tree-tops  before  it  disappeared  altogether. 

Now  followed  days  of  radiant  sunshine. 
Every  one  was  happy  to  live  out  of  doors 
again  without  getting  wet  and  muddy 
every  time  he  took  a  walk. 

Uncle  Ned  said  at  dinner  one  day :  — 

"  Do  yOu  people  realize  that  the  moon 
will  be  full  to-night  and  that  the  lady  rises 
early?  Better  not  miss  coming  down  to 
Fairfield's  Beach  to-night." 

This  meant  for  Dorothy  another  after- 
noon nap  in  order  to  sit  up  late  for  the 
evening  by  the  shore,  but  she  was  very 
glad  to  go  to  bed  in  the  daytime  for  the 
sake  of  the  evening's  fun. 

Of  all  the  beautiful  views  of  that  beau- 
tiful place  never  had  land  or  water  seemed 
more  lovely  than  they  appeared  that  eve- 
ning, bathed  in  silvery  moonlight.  All  the 

173 


THE  LITTLE  HOUSE  IN  THE  WOODS 

little  boats  of  the  neighborhood  were  out 
in  the  Bay,  filled  with  people  who  rowed 
slowly  about  enjoying  the  beauty.  Lin- 
coln took  Dorothy  and  her  mother  out  in 
Mr.  Sayre's  canoe  and  Dorothy  watched 
the  paddle  scatter  showers  of  jewels  as  it 
dipped  and  rose  in  the  moon's  path  on 
the  water.  The  people  out  in  the  little 
boats  here  and  there  began  to  sing.  Doro- 
thy and  her  mother  did  not  join  in,  it  was 
so  pretty  to  listen  to  the  music  across  the 
water. 

Presently  Dorothy  and  her  friends  sat 
on  the  rocks,  wrapped  warmly  because 
Maine  nights  are  cool,  and  they  sang 
some  more  songs  and  they  discovered 
queer  animals  in  the  clouds  which  the 
moon  lighted,  and  nobody  wanted  to  go 
to  bed. 

At  last  Mrs.  Hopper  said:  — 
"  This  family  must  start  for  home,  even  if 
the  rest  of  you  mean  to  stay  out  all  night." 

174 


FOGGY  DAYS 

And  what  do  you  suppose !  They  found 
they  could  not  walk  across  Uncle  Ned's 
beach  over  toward  Dorothy's  bungalow! 
The  beach  was  completely  covered  with 
water,  up  to  the  very  roots  of  the  trees. 

The  boys  howled  in  make-believe  ter- 
ror: — 

"  Marooned !  Marooned !  " 

The  girls  were  greatly  excited  by  the 
strange  appearance  of  their  familiar  beach, 
and  Uncle  Ned  said:  — 

"That 's  the  highest  tide  I  've  seen  in 
all  the  years  we  Ve  been  coming  here !  " 

Arthur  and  Lincoln  walked  around 
through  the  woods  to  the  pier.  There  they 
got  the  boats  and  rowed  across  to  the 
rocks,  where  Dorothy's  family  and  Uncle 
James's  boarded  the  boats  and  traveled 
home  by  water. 

The  Cedar  Hill  Farm  people  had  to 
walk  through  a  different  woods  road  than 
the  usual  one,  because  the  high  tide  cut 

i75 


THE  LITTLE  HOUSE  IN  THE  WOODS 

them  off  from  the  shortest  route.  No  one 
minded  a  bit,  though,  and  no  one  had  to 
carry  a  lantern  this  night,  even  under  the 
trees.  The  moon  made  the  rough  road- 
way quite  light  enough. 

Dorothy  stayed  all  summer  long  in  that 
pleasant  country  having  beautiful  times 
every  day.  But  if  I  were  to  try  to  tell  you 
all  the  things  she  did,  this  story  would 
go  on  and  on  and  on  till  the  book  would 
be  too  heavy  for  you  to  hold. 

So  you  must  use  what  Dorothy  would 
call  your  "think-up-er"  and  see  if  you 
cannot  finish  this  story,  imagining  every- 
thing Dorothy  did  during  the  summer 
while  she  lived  in  her  little  house  in  the 
woods  by  the  waters  of  the  blue,  blue 
sea. 

i 

THE  END 


prcsji 

CAMBRIDGE  .  MASSACHUSETTS 
U   .   S   .  A 


7  DAY  USE 

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